VRTX, Vol 1
by The Late Artisan
Summary: An awkward storm, an eager outsider, a lonely know it all, and a proud reject. The four of them will battle a threat greater than anything the four kingdoms of Remnant have faced in centuries. Dark figures prowl in the night, disguising themselves as humans and faunas. The light is fading, and it's up to team VRTX to stop this threat. (CHARACTER DEATH!) (OC X Blake)
1. Violet Trailer

Violet stood on top of a rather tall building in the middle of a large city.

Below were a team of operatives, dressed in all black body suits. They had dark grey padding over their forearms, torsos, and shins, all of them carried weapons.

Violet watched as the armored men carried crates of Dust into their vans, thinking no one would notice.

 _Idiots, you really think you were gonna get away with all that dust? On a Wednesday, no less._

Violet put a stick of cherry flavored gum in her mouth before she grabbed the corner of the roof and swung down into the alley she knew they were going to try to leave through.

"Ah yeah! Look at all this! We're gonna be rich!" One of the criminals exclaimed as he slammed the back of the van shut. "Shh! Shut up!" One of them whisper yelled, "We're not done here yet. Someone could hear you." The goons got into their vans, then drove out of the backlot.

The group of three vans stopped when they saw a girl standing in the middle of the way. "Hey!" The robber in the passenger seat yelled, "Get out of the way little girl!" The girl just stood there, hands behind her back.

She was wearing a short black skirt with violet frills, purple wedged boots, a black zip up hoodie with a violet spiral on the back, and a purple tank top underneath. She was pale, and had short bleach white hair, with violet at the fray of it, dark indigo eyes, and a bored look on her face as she chewed her gum.

"I said, get out of the way!" The passenger repeated. The girl rolled her eyes, "Why don't you idiots come over here and make me?" She suggested, her hands still behind her back.

The driver and passenger looked at each other, then grabbed their batons and exited the van. "Alright you asked for-" The criminal was cut off when the girl pulled her hands from behind her back, revealing a tonfa with a blade attached in each hand!

"Alright, gum's lost its flavor!" Violet announced, giving her sword-tonfas a quick spin, just before spitting out her gum and slashing it in two. "Let's do this!" With that, she charged at the two.

The two goons were surprised. One ran at her, while the other pulled out a communicator, "We got a huntress! I repeat, We got a huntress!" He shouted as he watched his teammate get worked over.

Violet jumped into the air and delivered a kick to the criminal before her's face, sending him flying back and into the hood of the van he was riding in. She turned, giving her tonfas a spin, and pointed the blunted end at the driver, releasing a shot. The blunt ends were gun nozzles.

More goons came running into the alley, to which she backflipped away and into the street behind her.

"Hey, isn't a heist supposed to be like, a Saturday thing, or something?" She questioned as the group rushed at her. They all surrounded her, aiming rifles and batons at her.

"Well, this should be interesting, I haven't fought this many before..." The ones wielding batons rushed in first, swinging wildly and uncoordinated. Violet sighed and delivered another kick to ones face, while turning around to shoot another. She sliced at two that tried to sneak up on her, then delivered a knee to one's crotch, making him double over in pain.

The criminals wielding rifles all looked nervously at each other. Violet brought her blades across the throat of one final baton wielder, before turning to face the riflemen.

"Who's first..?" She taunted, pointing at the goons. "Open fire!" One yelled, and they all fired at her. Bullets flew at Violet, and she took a deep breath, channeling her aura. They all stopped firing and looked at her. Violet was still standing, and none of the bullets had hit her. In fact, they surrounded her, whirling around like a tornado.

"I guess you all volunteered!" She mused, pushing her hands out at them, making the storm grow.

The criminals tried to back away, but found their feet were no longer on the floor. They started to swirl around Violet, just like the bullets did.

"Put me down!" One yelled, "I'm gonna kill you when I get down from here!" Another screamed, "I want to go home!" one cried. Violet chuckled as they swirled around her.

"You want down?" She asked through the storm around her. She got a garble of screams, but they all pretty much said 'yes'. "Fine! I'll put you down!"

With that, she thrust out her hands. All around her, the criminals and bullets went flying away! They flew into buildings and over buildings, being launched all over the city.

The storm around Violet died down, and her smile went from ear to ear.

"Idiots..."

She then pressed two buttons on each tonfa, making them fold down and turn into nothing but two handles with buttons on the top.

 _Well,_ She thought. _I'm getting kinda tired..._

 _I wonder if I'll get back to Signal before they notice I'm gone._

 **So! That was Violet Trailer! She's the first member of VRTX. It's not a long chapter, but it is just a Character Trailer. I plan to do one for each other member of VRTX, which is pronounced 'Vortex'.**

 **Next up: Crimson Trailer**

* * *

 **ARTISAN MAKES AN EDIT**

 **The majority of you reading this are probably turned away by the shortness and low quality of this chapter, as well as the abundance of unnecessary exclamation points. I'm going to assure you know that the quality gets MUCH, MUCH better as is goes along (in terms of grammar, spelling, length and use of exclamation points).**

 **So why didn't I edit the lousy parts of this chapter?**

 **Well...**

 **I'm a lazy jerk-off!**

* * *

 **ARTISAN MAKES ANOTHER EDIT**

 **I fixed the exclamation points. Yay.**


	2. Crimson Trailer

A group of tourists walked along a scenic trail in the mountains.

All around them were dark red trees and grassless grounds. The sky was turning the pinkish orange color that it does around sundown.

The forest in the mountains was beautiful, and the tourists were loving every minute of it.

Then, the whole area started to shake, alarming the tourists.

The ground burst open, and out came a giant scorpion Grimm, known as a Deathstalker.

It moved towards the group, golden stinger ready! A small boy grabbed onto his mother's leg in an attempt to hide. The group was Grimm bait at this point, and there was nothing that could save them...

Then, a column of earth sprang from the floor, launching the Deathstalker back. The group stopped shaking and looked around, just before a boy slammed into the floor on one knee.

"Well," Ross began, "I never did like it when someone big decides to pick on someone little..."

Ross wore a crimson t-shirt with a white skull on the front, a white zip-up hoodie with the sleeves cut off and crimson on the zipper and stitching, a white armband with a red dragon insignia wrapped around his upper left arm, black finger-cut gloves, a gunmetal and crimson shoulder pad on his right shoulder, grey baggy pants with red bags tied to the hips, and red skater shoes.

His hair was a dark red, and his eyes a blazing yellow. On his back was a giant Buster Sword, with nozzles on the blunt edge.

"You tourists better get going," Ross suggested, "Things are about to get messy between this bully and I..." With that, Ross pulled his sword from his back, and held the six foot steel blade in his right hand.

The Deathstalker righted itself to its multiple feet, and turned to the new threat. Ross stood there with a smirk on his face. "You gonna do something, big guy?" He taunted, walking forward slowly.

The Deathstalker prowled forward as well, its multiple feet tacking across the dirt floor.

Ross smiled as he pumped his fist upward, creating yet another column of earth, sending him flying into the air and toward the Deathstalker.

The Deathstalker advanced at the boy, who had just flung himself into the air. It moved forward quickly, intending to impale him in midair.

Ross swung his blade, bringing it slowly forward until he pulled a trigger. When he pulled the trigger, the nozzles on the blunt of the sword opened up and released a giant blast of air, speeding up the slash to bullet speeds.

Ross's blade sped through and hit away the Deathstalker's stinger, allowing Ross to do what he had intended earlier; land on its back.

Ross landed right foot first on the Deathstalker's vulnerable back, then moved left just in time to avoid the thing's stinger. He spun around, using his air jet to accelerate his slash, and attacked the base of the Grimm's tail.

It riled in pain, almost knocking Ross off, then it started to run around in an attempt to fling him off.

"Whoa! Easy there!"

Ross drove his sword into the back of the Grimm in an attempt to stabilize himself. He then moved his free hand before him in a fist, creating a column of earth that the Deathstalker ran face first into.

This flung Ross off the back of the Grimm and onto the floor. Ross rose to his feet, and looked at the Deathstalker, still shaking its head, He noticed his sword still in the thing's back.

 _This always happens..._

Ross lifted his left hand, creating another column beneath him, launching his upward. He continued to lift more columns and use them like stepping stones until he used the last column to launch himself over the Grimm. Ross grabbed his sword's handle in midair and pulled the trigger, making the blade shoot out the side of the beast.

Ross landed on the other side of the heavily wounded Grimm, then gave his sword a taunting spin, "Is that all you got?" He questioned.

The Deathstalker made one last exhausted attempt to charge the boy, but was met with a buster sword lodged in the center of its bone white face.

"I guess it was."

Ross span his sword around before placing it on his back, pressing a button, making the blade fold down.

He then turned around to the band of frightened tourists, "It's okay, the thing's dead now." He assured them.

With that, the crowd went wild! People swarmed the boy, patting his shoulders, thanking him, shaking his hands, getting pictures with him on their scrolls.

After the initial hype of the crowd, they all decided to move on. All except one man with white hair, wearing a green suit and glasses.

"Hello." The man began, just before Ross would have launched himself away.

"Oh, uh, hey there." Ross stuttered awkwardly.

"Are you a Huntsman in training?" The man asked, making Ross slow down.

"Uh, no, no I'm not."

"You just like killing Grimm?"

"Not exactly,"

"Then what was all that?"

"I enjoy helping people in need."

"Well, would you like to become a Huntsman someday?"

"I'm not sure, but I know I want to keep helping people."

"Well then, why don't you give it a try?"

"Huh"

Ross was confused by the man's words.

"I'm offering you a spot at Beacon academy, if you're interested." The man adjusted his glasses, giving the boy a warm smile.

"Really?!" The boy asked eagerly, "I mean, if I can continue helping people."

The man chuckled at Ross, "Really."

"Well, when do I start?" Ross asked, approaching the man.

"In a week, we'll be in Vale." The man turned to leave, "You should come with me today so you can get a better feel for Vale." he suggested, "It's much different than The Dragon Lands."

Ross nodded and followed along eagerly, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch your name."

"Ozpin, and you?"

"Ross Mayweather."

The two continued down the scenic trail as the sun set. A new life would begin for Ross soon.

 **So, that was Crimson Trailer! If you are wondering how 'Ross' has to do with Crimson, I'll explain. Ross is short for Rosso, which is Italian for Red, Crimson is a shade of Red, so BOOM, Ross!**

 **He's the second member of VRTX, and he's one of my favorite members.**

 **Next up: Tan Trailer**


	3. Tan Trailer

Tanya stood in the center of a large hexagonal platform with her chakrams in each hand.

She wore a dark brown t-shirt with a tan moon with a wheel slamming into it insignia over the chest, a tan scarf, tan sleeves that came out of the brown sleeves, an assortment of bracelets, a tan jacket tied around her waist, white skinny jeans, and tan combat boots.

She had dirty blonde hair tied into two tails, dark green eyes, tanned skin, and a pair of glasses over her eyes.

Around her were Six other students; Hunters in training.

She crouched down and thought about her situation, _I'm surrounded by opponents on all six sides of the hexagon, one is wielding a sword, two have axes, one has a weapon in pistol form, and the other two have weapons in rifle mode._

She channelled her aura quickly, creating a white glow around herself.

The three wielding melee weapons charged in, one jumping, one sliding at her legs, the last charging with his tomahawk above his head.

In a split second, Tanya created three more of herself. The Tanya clones charged at the approaching threat and raised their own weapons to combat them.

One Tanya grabbed the hand of another and flung her forward, while in midair, that Tanya threw her chakrams at the student who jumped, slamming into his chest and sending him back.

The other two Tanyas were busy fighting the other students. One span her chakrams around her fingers, holding down the trigger and shooting bullets rapid fire at the ranged students. The other was spinning and tossing her chakrams at the the other students, bouncing them off of them back into her hands.

The attacking students moved to one area, the melee in front and the ranged in the back, "Go!" One in the back ordered, and they all charged forward.

Tanyas charged their auras and seperated into six more, creating a total of ten Tanyas. They all spun their chakrams simultaneously, then charged in with a scream.

The students in the back opened fire, sending a flurry of bullets at the clones. Clones were struck, fading away quickly after being shot, but the remaining ones still advanced.

Tanyas then grappled onto each other, throwing each other and using each other as bludgeons to attack the attacking students.

Three of the students backed up, one getting a Tanya clone slammed into him, sending him flying off the hexagonal arena.

The remaining five charged in, one getting a facefull of chakram bullets, two getting their nuts kicked simultaneously, another taking a chakram to the chest and being sent off the arena, and the last getting his feet swiped out from under him and an ankle slamming into the bridge of his nose.

They were all down for the count, leaving only the seven Tanyas still conscious in the arena.

Tanyas lined up before their defeated opponents, bowed, then poofed away turning back into one girl.

"And that my friends," Tanya panted, "Is how you kick butt..."

Tanya twisted the chakrams' handles, turning them into bracelets.

"Class dismissed..."

Tanya stepped off the stage, six fellow students groaning in pain behind her.

"Tanya, I'd like to have a word with you." She heard the teacher call after her.

Tanya sighed and turned to walk over to her teacher, a man in his late thirties with greying raven hair, a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the inner cloth of the shirt a blood red, sleek black business pants, and white dress shoes.

The teacher turned to her class. "You are all dismissed for the day." The class quickly shuffled out of their seats and toward the door.

"Do you know why I pulled you over here?" The teacher questioned.

Tanya groaned. "I apologize if I went overboard in that last training session, but you have to understand that I was facing six other 'well trained'," Tanya made sure to put up air quotes around the words 'well trained', "students on my own without any team members."

"Tanya, your Semblance allows you to clone yourself." Her teacher pointed out.

"Yes, but the higher number of clones I have, the lower the integrity of each."

"But still, do you know why I've pulled you over here?" The teacher asked again.

"You are going to give me detention for injuring my classmates." Tanya sighed.

"No."

Tanya was confused.

"Wait, what was that you said?"

"I'm not giving you detention." The teacher had a smirk about his face.

"Then, what is this about, why do you need to speak to me in seclusion?"

"I want you to be a fully fledged Huntress like you want to become." He told her.

"Surely you can't mean..." Tanya was growing excited!

"I'd like to offer you an invitation at Beacon Academy, Tanya Goldwin."

Tanya was melting inside at the thought of it all.

"O-of course! I'd- I'd be enthused to take you up on that invitation!" She stuttered, bouncing in place.

"I knew you would, you are Huntress material after all." Her teacher told her, "Now go along and tell your brother, he'll be happy to know you'r joining him at Beacon."

With that, Tanya turned for the exit, almost running she was so excited.

"Oh, one more thing," Tanya said as she spun on her heel, turning to her instructor.

"Thank you once more, Professor Brill!"

Brill smiled as she ran out the door. "Don't mention it," He chuckled to himself, "Now, what am I gonna do about these morons..." He asked himself, looking at the students who were still unconscious.

 **Tan Trailer is complete! I'm happy I got this one out of the way. It's not as good as the other two trailers.**

 **I modeled Tanya's fighting style to be a hybrid of Axel from KH, Naruto from, well, Naruto, and Goofy from KH.**

 **I tried to make seem nerdy, because that's how I planned her out.**

 **I'll update again soon!**

 **Next up: X-Ray Trailer**


	4. X-Ray Trailer

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf?"

Xavier walked down a dark and empty street, his hands in his pockets, his grey wolf ears perked up. He was in an abandoned area of Vale, which was evacuated due to a high concentration of Grimm.

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf?"

Xavier had heard that there was a White Fang base here. As much as he hated the way Faunas were treated, he knew that the White Fang's acts of terrorism weren't the answer.

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf?" The Big Bad Wolf?"

He finally stopped before a large warehouse, all of its windows barricaded with wood planks and such. The streetlight above him shone down, revealing his appearance.

He was a teenage boy, wearing a black longcoat with the sleeves cut to t-shirt length, studded bracelets, a grey thermal undershirt, multiple studded belts, a leather sash with a Wolf Paw insignia, black skinny jeans with white suspenders, and black studded combat boots. holstered on his back was a sheathed straightedge katana, with three buttons along the handle.

His messy hair was a pale silver, and it ran down to his neck, his eyes were an icy blue, and on the top of his head were two wolf's ears. His mouth was painted into a smirk, showing off his fangs.

Xavier knocked rapidly and rudely on the metal door before him.

"Hey! Open up!"

There was some shifting on the other side, then a slat on the door opened up, revealing a faunas wearing a Grimm mask.

"Little pigs, little pigs, let me in!"

Xavier grabbed his sword and pointed the opened pommel at the door.

"It's the Wolf Kid again! Battle positions!" The White Fang member on the other side yelled to whoever else was in the room with him.

One went over to the door, "Wolf Kid? You mean that little punk who's been hitting al-"

The door blasted open, crumpled metal, blue flame, and pieces of the wall went flying!

Xavier stood there with the nozzle at the end of his pommel smoking.

"Guess I had to blow your house down!" He sneered, pulling his sword out of its scabbard, revealing a four foot long blade with the word 'FLLFFL' inscribed on it.

"Now, let's do this!"

There were around thirty armed White Fang members, and an unmasked member with boar tusks and a mohawk, who wielded a claymore that had pistol barrels instead of a crossguard.

"Charge!" The unmasked one, who Xavier guessed was the leader here, yelled from the stage he stood on. All of them began to sprint at Xavier, who only smirked as they approached.

Xavier channeled his aura, making a flashing white outline around himself turning his skin pitch black and a flashing white X-ray of himself to appear! He then disappeared, making all of the White Fang members stop in confusion.

Then, one dropped to the floor, a cut across his back. Xavier was invisible. All the members started firing in that direction, in a wild attempt to hit a target they couldn't see.

After the shots finally stopped, everyone stood with unease, hoping that this wolf boy was dead...

"Missed me!"

Out of the the empty, bullet ridden, corner came a burst blue flame, with a boy riding at the front of the flame. The White Fang aimed to fire again, but Xavier was too fast and was already in the center of all of them.

"Alright," He gave his sword a spin, pointing the pommel at the enemy, "Time to die!"

They all charged once more. Xavier pressed a button on the handle as a group approached, releasing a forceful blast of blue flame. The group went flying back, as did Xavier. Xavier landed near another group of terrorists, turning around to face them in close quarters.

The five White Fang members changed their rifles into assorted melee weapons, then charged at the boy. Xavier gave his sword a stylish spin before slashing one across the chest, punching another in the face, using a burst to enhance a slice across one's face, kicking another in the crotch, then using a final burst to fly away from the group, as well as blast the remaining enemy.

"Kill this kid already!" Yelled the leader, who switched his claymore into some sort of rifle.

Xavier landed, using a kick to one's face as a means to stop himself. "Gonna have to try harder than this to kill me, Little Pig." Xavier taunted, slashing across the throat of another grunt.

"Fine then!" The leader grunted, as two members approached him with a metal box.

Xavier had just cleared out another group, leaving only six more members conscious (The others would be lucky to be alive). He turned to the leader, who stood on the stage with the remaining members.

"How about you and I have ourselves a little one on one, eh kid?" The tusked leader offered, locking together some Dust peripheral and his claymore.

Xavier smirked once again, "Sure thing, but be prepared to lose your masculinity." He taunted. Xavier was never one to turn down a challenge, not now, not ever.

Finally, the leader finished latching together his weapon. It was his claymore, now with a revolving dust chamber and the blade had a chainsaw blade around the cutting edges.

"Ooh," Xavier mocked, "I'm so scared." Then, he disappeared, a blue burst of flame sent him right in front of the leader, just before he reappeared. "I'm seriously wetting myself." He deadpanned as he stood eye to eye with the faunas.

"Graah!" The leader cried as he gave his saw blade a whir, then sliced horizontally at Xavier. Xavier caught the strike with his own sword, then delivered a kick to the Faunas' chest, sending him back.

The two charged each other, chainsaw whirring and jet flaming. Their blades connected again, and they pulled away quickly. Xavier ducked under another swipe, and attempted to kick the warthog's legs out from under him. The leader moved back, then delivered a kick that sent Xavier off the stage and into a stack of crates.

Xavier shook his head as he tried to get to his feet, then quickly jetted back before he could be cut in half by the warthog man.

"You move quickly, kid!"

Xavier noticed what was in the boxes and his smile brightened. Dust.

"Yeah, well, having a Jet Sword sure does help." Xavier replied, turning his jet behind him, then boosting right at the leader! He then used his shoulder to knock the man back, grabbing a Dust crystal while he was still stumbling.

Xavier then opened a slot in the handle, shoved the crystal in, then closed it. The sword then charged up, making the blunt edge of the blade glow a bright florescent blue, as well as the 'FLLFFL' inscription.

 _Lightning Dust, hope it'll be useful!_ He thought as he pointed the nozzle toward the leader.

"That doesn't belong to you, kid!" The warthog Faunas grunted, whirring his saw blade once more before charging back in. Xavier let loose an arc of lightning that coursed throughout the White Fang member's body, showing off the X-ray of both Xavier and the warthog.

Xavier finally let the burst off, then turned his blade around, boosting his blade into the leader's gut.

"Stay down!" Xavier muttered, as he pulled his blade out of the man's belly.

Xavier then turned to the other surviving White Fang members, who were backing up in fear.

"I suggest you Little Pigs go 'wee wee wee' all the way back home." Xavier threatened, pointing his sword at them as they ran away.

After the warehouse was emptied of people, with the exception of Xavier, they boy dialed someone on his scroll.

"Yeah," He said, "Uhuh," He looked like he was getting annoyed.

"No! It wasn't too dangerous!"

The person on the other end was starting to get angry, "Well, do you want to get the Dust or not!?"

"No!?" Xavier sounded surprised.

"You made me go through all that crap for nothing!?"

Xavier was about to crush the scroll in his hand, but got a surprised look on his face.

"A t-test!?"

A new voice took over on the other side.

 _"Hello, Xavier Ray."_ The voice greeted. It sounded like a man's, it had an accent of superiority as well, though it also sounded sincere.

"Uh, who is this? Where's Professor Autumn?" Xavier questioned.

 _"Professor Autumn is fine, but you on the other hand..."_

Xavier groaned.

"Sorry, but I was assigned to do this! I shouldn't be in trouble."

 _"Don't worry Xavier, you're not in trouble."_

"I'm not?"

 _"No. far from it, actually."_

Xavier's curiosity was peaked at this point. Who was this man, and what did he want with Xavier?

 _"Do you want to be a Huntsman?"_

"Of course! What other reason would I be going to Bastion Academy?"

 _"Well, how about a spot at Beacon instead?"_

Xavier's eyes squinted skeptically. He looked around the place, then returned to his scroll.

"Alright, where are the hidden camera's!? I don't appreciate being punked!"

The voice on the other end chuckled.

 _"No, I'm being serious. do you think I would mess with a talented youth such as yourself?"_

"Alright, no more! Who the heck are you!?" Xavier's patience had run thin.

 _"Professor Ozpin, pleasure to meet you Xavier."_

Xavier was dumbstruck.

"Oz-Ozpin!?"

 _"Yes?"_

Xavier slammed his palm into his forehead, groaning the most exasperated groan he could.

"I'm an idiot..."

 _"You're a prodigy."_

"Well, I can't disagree there."

Ozpin let out another small chuckle.

 _"So, what'll it be Xavier? You ready to begin your real training?"_

Xavier took a deep breath and realized what was being offered to him. He remembered being a young Faunas and watching his brother join the White Fang, then watching as he was filled with hate. He remembered going to visit a friend in Vacuo, only to find the whole town in ruins. He looked around at the ghost town he currently stood, knowing of the lives that could have been saved. He'd known what he wanted to be, and he saw the door that had been opened for him.

"Professor Ozpin..."

 _"Yes, Xavier?"_

"I'd like to enroll at Beacon Academy."

 **X-Ray trailer is done! How did y'all like it? I hope it was as good as (If not better) than the other three trailers. I got all of Team VRTX's trailers done, now I can get to the story!**

 **I'm happy that anyone has read this far, and I apologize for taking so long to upload this chapter! R &R, I hope you keep reading!**

 **Next up: First Impressions.**


	5. The Impressions that I get

Violet had just left the small ceremony that she and the other students from Signal had to endure. She thought it was nice, though she couldn't wait to get it over with so she could go to her new school: Beacon Academy!

As she boarded the airship, she looked around at the other students. There were somewhere around fifty or so, and not all of them looked to be from Signal.

 _Well, that's obvious. You've got people from Sanctum, Signal, Bastion, and Herald coming to Beacon._ She thought.

There was a quiet boy with a pink hair streak, and a bubbly girl talking his ear off over by the window. She saw a young blonde boy sitting down and clutching his stomach.

"I don't want to be any kind of knees!" Violet heard. She turned around to see...

"Ruby?" She whispered to herself. She used to be friends with that girl, but over time they drifted apart. This didn't make sense, Ruby was two years behind schedule. How could she be going to Beacon? Well, it's nice to see old friends again, but Violet was wondering if she could make some new ones.

"Hey there." She heard, then turned around to see another student. He was a boy with dark red hair, who wore an outfit that had lots of crimson and white on it.

"Uh, hey." She shuffled a little awkwardly.

"Wow, Vale is really cool! I mean, we don't have airships where I come from." The boy continued. This peaked Violet's curiosity.

"No airships?" She asked.

"Nope."

"Oh, well, uh, where're you from?" She persisted.

"I don't know what your kingdom calls the place, but where I come from, it's called the Dragon Lands." The boy told her.

 _The Dragon Lands?_

"Well, I don't know where that is." She looked down awkwardly.

"Oh well, I'm Ross by the way." The boy revealed to be Ross thrust out his hand.

"Violet." She shook his hand, then turned to the window.

"Wow. I bet you could see your house from here." Ross joked.

"Oh, no. I live on the fringes of Vale. No way you could see it."

"Oh. Well, now we both know where the other came from." Ross smiled, he was breathless from the view before him.

"Your Kingdom is beautiful." He said, making Violet turn to him awkwardly.

 _Wow, this guy must have came from the middle of nowhere._ She thought.

Behind them, two boys were about to get in a fight.

"Call me a freak one more time, I dare you!" Xavier yelled, grabbing the handle of FLLFFL.

"Oh look, the animal's feisty!" The boy with auburn hair, blue eyes, and a full suit of armor taunted. "I'll bet this mutt's got more bark than bite!" Another taunted.

Xavier's blade started to slide out of its sheathe when a hand stopped him.

A gloomy looking girl with her face in a book groaned. "Try not to get expelled before we even get to the school."

 _Wow, she's hot!_ Xavier thought as he examined her.

She had long black hair and a large black bow. Her clothes were a mixture of formal and gothic attire, and a pistol sword in a bladed sheathe was holstered on her back.

"B-but he-"

"Look, I don't like their ignorance either, but this isn't the way to go about it." She said, moving her eyes away from her book briefly, revealing them to be a bright yellow. She spoke with calm authority.

"Why defend a stupid Faun-" The bully was cut off by a boy with blonde hair and small armor plating, stumbling between the three of them.

"Uhh?" Xavier questioned, just before the boy threw up all over the floor!

"Oh god!" Xavier backed away, the girl leapt back almost like a cat, and the bully got it all over his leg!

"You're gonna pay for that!" The bully growled as he grabbed the blonde boy by his hoodie.

"Wrruhh..." The boy made a strange exhausted noise before being thrown to the floor next to his own vomit.

The bully stomped away, and Xavier and the girl made sure to go their separate ways.

This boy wasn't making any attempt to get up, and he just stared at the ceiling.

A girl and her brother saw this, and they both had different feelings towards it.

"Wow, what a loser." Forest Goldwin mocked as he leaned against the wall, trying to look cool.

"I think not, motion sickness is actually quite a common problem, and I'm surprised that he was the only student on board with this reaction." His younger sister Tanya said, adjusting her glasses as she spoke.

"Wow, you are such a nerd." Forest mocked as he pulled out his scroll.

"Perhaps, but at least I was allowed entry into Beacon before the likes of you ever would have been." She taunted in her intellectual voice.

Forest simply grumbled as the airship neared its destination.

As the students departed from the airship, the boy sprinted out to a trash can before releasing another load of vomit.

"Gross." Violet commented as she walked by.

"So, where do we go now?" Ross asked her.

The two both shrugged.

"Amphitheater?" Violet thought aloud.

"Is there an amphitheater?" Ross asked

"I don't know, let's ask around." Violet suggested

"I don't think any of the other new students would know either."

"Oh, yeah, you're right."

Violet and Ross just stood there, observing all the students as they walked by, taking in the huge welcoming appearance of Beacon Academy.

"I think following the other student might be a goo-"

Boom!

Violet and Ross's attention was stolen by a crater formed in the center of the plaza! There was ice, fire, lightning, all kinds of elements!

Sitting at the center of it was a prissy looking girl with a lot of white on, and none other than Ruby Rose.

Violet groaned.

"She always used to do things like that." She told Ross as they watched the girl in white scream at Ruby. Another girl in black, the one that stopped the fight on the airship by the looks of it, stepped up and started to talk to the two of them. After a short talk, the two left, leaving only Ruby laying defeatedly in the center of her crater.

"I think we should help her." Ross said, beginning to walk over.

"No, wait, someone's already on it." Violet pointed to none other than Vomit Boy, offering Ruby a hand.

"Ah." Ross deadpanned.

"Wait, you know her?" He asked, turning to Violet. "Oh, uh. Yeah, I used to." Violet answered. "We were friends a few years back, but over time we just kinda, you know, stopped being friends..."

"Well, I'll try not to 'stop being friends' with you." Ross assured, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, did you just say we're friends?" Violet asked.

Ross nodded. "I mean, we're able to tolerate and hold a conversation for longer than five minutes, so we must be friends."

Violet giggled. "Yeah, though your 'everything is so amazing' thing you got going is starting to get annoying."

Ross chuckled and shook his head, "I'll try to keep it to myself then."

Elsewhere, Xavier skulked around, invisible.

He'd been stalking his prey he'd met on the airship for at least an hour now.

 _Cardin Winchester, he said his name was._ He thought as he trailed invisibly ten feet behind Cardin.

Cardin looked around, he'd felt he was being followed, then he continued.

 _I'm gonna break this guy's arms first, then I'm gonna break his legs, then I'll send him crawling to Ozpin, but he'll have no idea who did it because he never saw who was doing it!_ He thought sadistically as he rounded a corner, ready to charge in and assault the young man.

"I don't understand why you continuously attempt to get rid of me. I am your sister!" A loud voice called from behind the two boys. Cardin turned around, though he didn't see Xavier.

A short girl followed around a boy with similar features to her, wearing green attire in place of her brown and tan.

"My god! You are the most annoying little girl in the entire school! Being around you makes me look like a complete loser!" The boy growled at her.

"But Forest, we've been together for-"

"I don't care Tanya!" The boy stormed off, leaving a confused Cardin, a saddened Tanya, and an annoyed Xavier.

Cardin began to continue walking, and Xavier would have taken his chance to attack him. But, the girl started to cry.

 _Oh come on! That's not fair! I'm a sucker for crying girls!_ Xavier yelled in his head!

He had a choice to continue his hunt, or help someone in need.

 _This jerk deserves a beat down._ He told himself as he turned to continue his prowl. _But, that girl really needs someone..._

Xavier felt pretty conflicted. _You know, if I attack this idiot, I'm no better than the White Fang._ He told himself, then turned to approach the crying girl.

Cardin was out of sight by this point.

Xavier sighed and returned to visibility, then he approached the crying girl.

"Hey." He said simply, throwing a quick nod.

She didn't react, but just continued sniffling.

"I said 'hey'!" He said a bit louder, startling her but catching her attention.

She looked at him funny, and shifted awkwardly.

"Uh, don't worry about your brother, he, uh, he seems like a jerk."

Tanya just looked at him, but her tears stopped.

"I apologize." She whimpered.

"Huh?" Xavier was confused.

"I apologize for crying in your presence, it is not professional, and it isn't necessary to show the way I feel through outbursts such as crying." She said in a half sad, half intellectual voice.

 _What is up with this girl?_ Xavier wondered.

"Well, crying isn't that bad. It's good to cry sometimes." He assured her, "I won't judge you for letting out your feelings."

She nodded sadly, then took her glasses off to clean them.

"So, Tanya was it?" He asked her, receiving an affirmative nod.

"Do you know where we're supposed to go?"

"I think it's down this way." She said after getting her emotions back under control.

The two of them started down the hall and off toward the auditorium.

As soon as all the students where in the massive auditorium, Professor Ozpin stepped forward toward the mic.

"I'll keep this brief," He began as he adjusted his glasses.

"I'll...keep this brief." He began as he adjusted his glasses.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. When you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

All the students were nodding and murmuring.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose; direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Violet and Ross contemplated his words.

"Well, he was brief about it, like he said he'd be." Ross shrugged.

"So, we're not gonna just become hunters by sitting around and suffering class. We're gonna have to get off our butts and do things." She explained more to herself than Ross.

They were to go to the Ballroom and sleep there until the next day. There was a mention of teams, and everyone instantly went to go find allies.

This year was shaping up to be an interesting one...

 **BOOM! First Chapter done!**

 **How do y'all like it? Anywhere I need to improve? Anyone I should pair up (Romantically I mean)? Which member of VRTX is your favorite? I wanna know these things!**

 **I'm eager to upload another chapter, and I'm even more eager to see reviews!**

 **Next up: What's this about teams?**


	6. So, what's this I hear about Teams?

Tanya woke up the next morning next to a huge air vent in the Ballroom where the students were told to sleep. She'd lost track of Xavier, and her brother seemed to be purposefully avoiding her.

 _Spectacular._ She thought sarcastically as she got out of her sleeping bag. She'd slept in a beige tank top and her panties,(Which she'd felt very uncomfortable with everyone seeing. They had corgis on them.). Everyone was gathering their stuff and going to the locker rooms to pack away stuff and retrieve their gear for their first trial.

Ross had slept as far away from all the girls as he could. Not that he didn't find them, well, you know, attractive. But it's the fact that he did find them attractive that made him sleep away from them. He'd probably just end up leering like an idiot. He'd soon be getting to the locker rooms to grab Bullet-Breaker. He'd finally get to see some action!

Speaking of leering like an idiot, Xavier was sleeping right next to some girl with silver and violet hair, invisible of course. He was never seen throughout the whole night, but he got the feeling that someone knew he was there. He'd snuck away from the girl when he woke up, and was one of the first to get to the locker rooms. He'd be packing away his crap he'd brought from Bastion Academy.

Violet had an extraordinarily uncomfortable night. She could have sworn she heard the panting of a dog over her as she tried to sleep. Creepy... But she'd have to grab her stuff now, because she and all the other students would have to go to the Emerald Forest for their first test!

Everyone was in the locker room at this point, putting away sleeping stuff and grabbing combat gear.

Ross reached into his locker and pulled out his weapon; Bullet-Breaker. A crimson painted steel Buster Sword with air jets along the blunted end that could open and speed up each slice he makes when he pulls a trigger. It was currently folded down into its travel form, which looked like a foot by foot square of red metal with a handle poking out.

He fastened Bullet-Breaker to his back, then proceeded to grab his gunmetal and crimson painted shoulderpad, which he fastened to his right shoulder.

He felt a tap on his unarmored shoulder and turned around to see Violet standing there.

"Oh, hey Violet." He smiled, then continued to pull on his black fingerless gloves.

"Hey Ross. So, what's this I've been hearing about teams?" She asked, leaning forward toward Ross.

"Teams? Well, I guess this school has a thing where they put four students together to be teamed up with for the next four years." Ross speculated. "I wonder when we'll get ours." He'd finished getting his gear ready when he saw Vomit Boy get pinned to the wall by a girl's spear.

"Poor guy." Ross sighed, watching as the girl in white and another girl in armor passed him by.

"Yeah, I'll bet he's got a lot of potential though." Violet said as she started to walk.

"Where are you going?" Ross asked, following behind her.

"I have to get my weapon too," She replied, "I can't kill Grimm with my bare hands."

"That would be cool if you could." Ross stated, walking next to her now.

Xavier was watching all the students. He'd been observing them all, evaluating which ones would be good and which ones would be lousy. He ruled out Vomit Boy as soon as he saw him. Others he'd decided against were that Tanya girl, her brother Forest, Cardin, the young girl who exploded in front of the school, and perhaps the hyper girl that bugged the boy with the pink streak in his hair.

Everyone else seemed like good partners, though if it were up to him he'd work alone.

 _Team Xavier._ He thought as he walked out of the locker room and started toward the Emerald Forest. _Has a nice ring to it._

Tanya had already grabbed Mirror Wheels; her weapons. They were chakrams with gun barrels between each blade and a mechanism that made them come back to her after throwing them. She stood outside the locker room, her gear ready and her scroll out. She was punching in numbers and evaluating her hypothesized statistics about each student.

Her brother walked out of the locker room, five other students trailing behind him. On his back was a giant crossbow with mechanisms that allowed the arch to turn into axe blades.

"Relax, you can all be on team Forest." He told them. Some looked happy, others looked at him like he was the biggest jerk in the world.

"Hello Forest." Tanya waved to her brother, who groaned when she spoke.

"What is it Tanya?" He grumbled.

"I was hoping that you would allow myself to join your team as well." She stated.

"What?" Forest questioned.

"Do you know her?" One of the other students asked Forest.

"Yes, I am his younger sister." Tanya explained.

"Oh, she should be on the team as well!" Another student suggested, "No way, she's a huge nerd." Another argued.

"Relax guys, I wouldn't allow her on my team in a million years!" Forest said in a reassuring tone.

Tanya gritted her teeth.

"Jerk!" She grunted, before using her semblance to split into two Tanyas. One walked away and the other kicked Forest in the shin as hard as she could, then disappeared.

"Oww!" Forest grunted, grabbing his shin. "What was that for!?" He shouted after her.

"You know, that really was a jerky thing to do." One student told Forest.

"Oh shut up!" Forest growled, making the students walk away from him.

 _Stupid Tanya! She always ruins everything!_

Tanya kept walking, but wasn't watching where she was going. She was staring at the floor, grumbling to herself.

 _Stupid Forest! He's a self centered imbecile who only cares about how everyone else perceives him!_

Tanya was so caught in her brooding that she didn't see the girl standing in the middle of the hall that she rammed into!

"Waaah!" The girl cried as she and Tanya tumbled to the floor!

"Oh- Aagh!" Tanya cried!

The two were now on the floor, Tanya facedown in the girl's chest.

The two screamed then scooted back away from each other!

"I-I apologize!" Tanya spouted quickly, "I wasn't watching were I wa-"

"Sorry! Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!" The girl span quickly from her mouth.

The two took a moment to catch their breath.

"Well, hello." The girl said.

She was wearing a pink tank top, a grey sleeveless jacket, multiple pale pink belts and sashes, her left arm covered in pink bracelets, a pink miniskirt, thigh high pink socks, and white high heels that had gun barrels in place of the stilts.

Her hair was pale pink and was styled to cover her left eye and run down her back, and her eyes were a bright blue.

"Um. Greetings?" Tanya greeted cautiously. She'd just been in an odd and compromising situation with this girl, yet she was already acting friendly.

"No need to be nervous!" She chirped, "I'm Lilac Spring!" Lilac righted herself to her feet, then offered a hand to Tanya.

"T-Tanya Goldwin... Pleasure to meet you?" She replied in an unsure tone, then accepted Lilac's hand.

"Do you mind if I ask what you were attempting to achieve by standing in the center of the hallway?" Tanya asked.

"Huh?" Lilac replied in a confused tone, "You talk funny!" She beamed.

Tanya sighed, "What were you doing in the center of the hall?" Tanya felt so dumb having to bring herself to such simplistic grammar.

"Oh, I was waiting for my friend Amber!" She chirped, turning and pointing to the room behind her.

The door opened as if on queue, and out stepped another girl.

She wore an orange and brown Barmaid Cafe outfit, with a metal chestplate, thigh high greaves, pauldrons, and a large gauntlet on her right arm.

Her hair was a dark orange and shaped into a bob. Her eyes were a light brown.

"Hello." She said in a stoic voice.

"Amber!" Lilac cheered, moving to give her a hug.

"Lilac, calm down. I was only gone for five minutes." Amber said, trying to push her bubbly counterpart off.

"Greetings." Tanya waved. Amber waved as well.

"I am Tanya Goldwin. I believe you are Amber?"

Amber nodded, "Amber Fall, pleased to meet you."

Amber broke free of Lilac's hugs to give Tanya a proper handshake.

"It was nice meeting you two, but I should get going to the Emerald Forest." Tanya began to walk away.

"I hope we're on the same team!" Lilac called to Tanya.

Amber sighed. "How do you make friends so easily? What's your secret?" She asked, her hands on her hips.

"I would tell you," Lilac replied, watching Tanya walk away, "But then it wouldn't be a secret!"

An hour or so later, all the new students were standing on platforms at a cliff that overlooked the Emerald Forest.

Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch stood before the students, ready to brief them on their first task as Hunters.

Xavier tuned out most of what Professor Ozpin said as he analyzed the other students.

Next to him was a jittery boy with a blue tunic and baggy pants tucked into combat boots. He had spiky pale blue hair and purple eyes. On his back was a compacted weapon that he couldn't discern.

Down the line was that girl with the bow he'd met on the airship, the girl that exploded, the girl with silver hair and violet, some guy in red and white wielding a buster sword, the bubbly girl and her quiet friend, a girl in a barmaid cafe outfit, Cardin and his band of bullies, a girl in white, a busty blonde with shotgun gauntlets, Vomit Boy, Tanya, her brother Forest, Pyrrha Nikos from the Pumpkin Petes boxes, and a girl in a pale pink outfit wit revolver high heels.

Quite the load of new students.

From what he did hear Ozpin say, he learned that he'd be teamed up with the first person he makes eye contact with after landing.

 _Wait, landing?_

The boy next to Xavier was launched off the platform he stood on and was sent flying toward the middle of the forest!

Before Xavier could react, the platform he was on launched him as well!

Tanya watched as the students were launched off and into the forest with no guidance on how they would land.

 _Alright Tanya, think of something after you've been launched._ She told herself.

Forest was launched into the air and went flying off!

 _There goes Forest..._

Next to be sent flying was some bully she'd seen on the airship. THen, before she could react, she was launched!

Violet stood on the platform next to Ross.

 _First person we make eye contact with!? This is crazy!_ She screamed in her head.

"Ross, try to find me once we land!" Violet called to him just before being launched herself!

"Huh?" Ross asked confused, before going flying off into the forest below!

Pretty soon all the students were sent off, and the trial began.

Ozpin took a small sip from his coffee as he watched the students come up with their own landing strategies. They were going to need to destroy every Grimm in their path if they were to survive. He had full confidence that all of them would do so.

 **Alright! I got another chapter out! Sorry if this one's a bit too focused on Xavier and Tanya. I also feel kinda bad for the treatment I'm giving Forest. He's coming off as a huge jerk when I wanted him to seem more like Mordecai from Regular Show. You know, like the guy who wants to be cool but his friend (In this case his sister) embarrasses him.**

 **I do have backstories for each of these characters, but I'll reveal them over time. Not all at once.**

 **If I shipped Xavier and Blake I would call the couple "Cat Scan". Hehe, get it? Because Cats... and X-rays... Yeah...**

 **X-Ray works because it's on the Electromagnetic Spectrum of Light. So don't question if it's valid.**

 **Next Up: I'm on a team with you!?**


	7. I'm on a Team with you?

Violet couldn't keep track of where anyone had landed. She was so busy coming up with her own landing strategy that she didn't have time to consider where the others went.

"Birdy no!"

Well, that was strange.

Violet pulled out her tonfas; Spiral Songs, and pointed the gun end downward. She then began to fire rapidly at the floor, which surprisingly slowed her down. Still, at the pace she was falling she'd break several bones. Suddenly she got an idea!

 _I got it! I'll use my semblance in reverse!_

With this thought, she pointed the blade ends of her Spiral Songs outward, then charged her aura.

Her semblance was the ability to create a gravitational rotation around her, or a 'storm' as she called it. She also possessed the ability to reverse her semblance and cause herself to spin at high speeds.

As she activated and reversed her semblance, the world went blurry in her eyes. She span so fast that she began to hover, lowering slowly to the floor.

When she finally landed and stopped spinning, she dropped to the floor with a screaming headache.

 _I feel sooo dizzy..._ She thought as she stared at the sky, everything waving around.

Nearby was Tanya, falling at a ridiculous speed and with not much time to think!

 _Gotta think! Gotta think! Gotta think!_ She screamed in her head.

She quickly activated her semblance, multiplying herself by fifteen. Then all the Tanyas grabbed ahold of each other, forming a ball of bodies to absorb the pressure!

The Tanya Ball slammed into the forest floor and all of the Tanya's except one were demolished. Tanya then tumbled on the floor and rose to her feet!

 _Gotta find someone, quick!_

Elsewhere, Ross had used his Bullet-Breaker to boost straight toward the floor.

"Haaaah!" He cried as he fell to the floor! Ross removed one hand from Bullet-Breaker's handle, then pumped it in a fist, summoning a huge column of earth from the ground. He then proceeded to stab into it, allowing the blade to drag and slow him as he approached the forest floor. Finally, he stopped falling, just before hitting the floor.

Ross touched down onto the floor, the drag slowing him down. His blade was still stuck in the column.

"Graaah!" He yelled, pulling the sword's trigger and forcefully moving the sword. His blade smashed the column it was trapped in, and sent stone and dirt flying everywhere!

 _Great! Now to find an ally..._

Flying right above him was Xavier, who was riding FLLFFL like an extremely thin board. One foot on the blunt of the blade, the other on the throttle.

"Woooo!" He cheered as he flew through the sky!

Apparently he wasn't the only one enjoying the flight, because the busty blonde girl from the cliff was cheering as well.

"Haha! Yeah!" She screamed, twirling through the air.

 _Wow, she's got a nice set of-_

Xavier couldn't finish his thought because he collided with a tree.

 _Ouch..._

After sticking to the tree for half a second, he comically fell off. Now he fell, straight towards the forest floor, branches flying by him and growing smaller as he fell back.

Then boom!

He was lying on his back, staring at the sky.

 _Well, not the most graceful landing..._ He thought, _But hey, I'm still alive._

Xavier then righted himself to his feet, shaking the leaves and grass out of his hair similar to how a dog shakes water from their fur.

 _Alright, now where'd that sword land?_

He walked around a little, sniffing around for the scent of his sword. Finally, he caught it!

 _Aha!_

His sword was found lying on the ground, right in front of a bush.

 _Thought you could hide from me, did you?_ He thought as he bent over to grab it. As he did, he heard rustling from the bush in front of him.

Xavier lifted his head to come face to face with a Beowulf.

"Oh shi-" He was cut short by a swipe to his face, sending him flying back into a tree!

"Gahk!" He cried as he made contact, then he shook his head to focus on the target. There was a beowulf before him, and with his knowledge of beowulves, he remembered that they travel in packs, meaning there could be many more of them close by.

Xavier gave FLLFFL a spin, then pointed it at the Grimm.

"Alright, it's time to show you which of us is alpha!" He taunted, then burst quickly toward his prey!

The beowulf charged forward, but was met with a sword in its jaw. Xavier then pulled his sword out violently, gave it a spin, then used the jet to blast it away! Now, all that remained of the Grimm was its hind legs.

Xavier's nose immediately twitched afterward and he boosted quickly to the left, narrowly avoiding two pouncing beowulves!

Out of the brush came another three, making the pack amount to five.

 _Okay... You've been in stickier situations._ He told himself.

They all charged and he activated his semblance. He disappeared before their very eyes, leaving the five Grimm confused.

Suddenly, one of the Grimm's head was severed, and they all turned to their fallen brethren, just before a boy fazed in from the tip of a stream of blue fire!

"Rhaaagh!" Xavier cried as he cut through the torso of another Grimm, then turned to face his kin!

The remaining three charged in, but stopped when they heard a crashing sound.

All four turned to see the trees next to them blown down and a boy holding a large blade bursting through them!

"Ryaaaagh!"

Ross brought his buster through two Grimm, leaving only one beowulf left!

"Sup!" Ross called to Xavier as he slowed next to him, both facing the remaining Grimm.

"Oh, nothing much. Just killing Grimm," Xavier replied, giving his jetsword a spin. "And you?"

"I'm having a blast!" Ross cheered as he launched himself into the air with a column.

"Haaaa!" He cried as he pulled the trigger, slamming down onto the beowulf and splitting him down the middle.

Xavier sighed. "I could've taken him." Then he slid FLLFFL into its sheathe.

"Yeah, right." Ross taunted, compacting Bullet-breaker.

In another area of the forest, Tanyas sprinted across the floor.

Tanya had cloned herself, now multiple of her were running around the forest in an attempt to find a partner quickly.

Finally, one of them spotted someone!

Tanya hid in the bushes as she made out who it was.

 _Forest!_ She exclaimed in her head! She was about to leave her cover when she remembered the way he'd treated her the past two days. _No, joining him wouldn't be a good idea._ She told herself. Still, she didn't move. She just watched her brother walk. _He's my brother. Perhaps I should go to him and join him._ She argued.

Finally, she decided to step out and talk to him.

As she stepped out of her bush, she noticed that Forest was helping another student to their feet. It was that girl from before; the one she'd bumped into in the hallway.

 _Lilac..._ Tanya thought as she saw the two of them talk.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a groan.

Another Tanya clone elsewhere looked to her left and saw a girl in purple sprawled out on the floor, staring at the sky, groaning.

 _A partner!_ Tanya thought as she deactivated her clones elsewhere, cutting off her vision of Forest and Lilac.

Violet's vision was finally coming back to her, and right above her was this girl wearing a bunch of tan and her hair in two long pigtails.

"Ungh..?" She grunted at the girl.

"Tanya Goldwin, pleased to meet you." The girl introduced, offering her hand to Violet.

Violet's concentration returned to her, and she took Tanya's hand.

"Uhh, Violet." She was pulled to her feet, "Violet Storm. Pleased to meet you too, I guess."

The two began to walk, not necessarily knowing where they were going.

"So, Tanya." Violet said in an attempt to strike up a conversation, "You know which way we're going?"

Tanya turned to her partner, "No, not particularly. I just know that we're going to a temple of some sort." She replied. Violet nodded.

So, the two pairs of hunters started their trek to the temple in the middle of the Emerald Forest.

 **Sorry that this chapter took so long to crank out. I was having internet problems.**

 **So, is anyone here curious why Xavier's Jet Sword is named 'FLLFFL'? I know the answer, and no it's not related to the story at all.**

 **Tell me which member of VRTX is your favorite. Tell me which weapon is your favorite. Tell me which of the four has the best Semblance. Tell me who's backstory you're the most curious about. I want to know all these things.**

 **So, read and review. I'll have the next chapter up soon (I hope). I can't make promises.**

 **I also recommend that you check out my account. Same exact name. I write my own material there, and I hope some of you might like it.**

 **Thank you.**

 **Up next: The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship**


	8. The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

"Quick! Do that thing we planned out!"

"Which one!?"

"The one with the blade tornado thingy!"

"Ohhh, that one."

"Just do it!"

Violet and Tanya were surrounded at all angles by Ursai, who were looking at the girls like they were a meal.

Suddenly, Violet built up her storm and Tanya created a squad of clones. Tanyas then threw their chakrams into the whirlwind around Violet, creating a spinning tornado of death.

Tanyas returned to just one girl who hopped away to a safe place behind a tree, her chakrams still multiplied. She nodded to Violet, who nodded back.

Violet then extended her storm, sucking in all the Ursai around her and cutting them up in the tornado of blades. After the Ursai had been thrashed up enough, Violet shoved her hands out, sending their bloodied bodies flying all over the forest.

The storm died down, and Tanya came running out of her hiding spot.

"That was incredible Violet!" She cheered, "I would have never constructed a strategy along those lines of such brilliance."

Violet simply nodded as Tanya yammered on with her extensive vocabulary.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool, huh?"

Tanya retrieved her chakrams and Violet tried to guess their next direction.

"We gotta think of a name for that attack..." Violet said as they walked toward a ruin that was not too far away.

"I'm thinking 'Sandstorm'." Violet offered, getting a curious look from Tanya, "You know, 'cause the Sand is Tan, and my last name is Storm..." Tanya simply gave a dull nod.

The two continued to walk, while elsewhere Ross and Xavier were having a heated argument.

"C'mon! Just let me use it for a sec," Ross persisted, "I'm not gonna break your sword, I just wanna try it out."

Xavier sighed, then turned to his partner.

"Do you have any idea how to use it?" He questioned.

Ross pulled his own sword out quickly and demonstrated a few slashes and such.

"Swish, swish, stab dude. It's a sword, not a fighter jet."

This opted a groan from the taller of the two hunters.

"You'll be surprised..." Xavier replied.

The two of them continued to walk until they came to a clearing.

Before them was a small ruin, with pedestals, stone columns, and other broken things. Standing on top of each pedestal was a relic of sorts, each shaped like a chess piece.

"Chess pieces?" Xavier asked.

"Guess so." Ross said.

The two of them made their way down to the ruin and examined each of the relics.

Ross eyed the knight piece and a smile spread on his face. "Horse!" He exclaimed to his partner. Xavier looked at him and shook his head. Ross sighed and turned away from the piece and followed behind his friend

Xavier stood over a bishop piece at this time, looking down on it.

"It looks kinda like a frog." He stated to Ross, who was eying it alongside him.

"Nope." Was all Ross said before walking away from the piece with his hands behind his head.

Xavier looked disappointed. "Aww, come on." He followed behind Ross and the two stopped finally over a final piece.

It was a white pawn piece.

"Boooring!" Ross said loudly to his counterpart, receiving an annoyed glare from Xavier.

"We're taking this one." Xavier said adamantly.

"But why?" Ross complained.

"Because it's blank. That means it can be anything that you want it to be. No predetermined theme or information; a blank slate." Xavier explained, Ross nodding as he spoke.

"But still..." Ross groaned.

Xavier stuffed the piece into his jacket before the ground began to rumble.

The floor shook so hard that it threw Xavier and Ross off their feet, just before the earth cracked and burst open.

Out of the hole in the floor sprung a huge pitch black worm with bone white spikes and plates all over it! Riding on the back of it were two girls, both acquainted with the pair of boys.

"Tanya!?" Xavier questioned.

"Violet!" Ross cheered.

"Nidhogg!" The two girls yelled in unison before jumping off the huge worm Grimm, known as a Nidhogg!

"Quick! Grab a chess piece Tanya!" Violet ordered, receiving a determined nod. Tanya cloned herself and had one grab a King piece while the other stayed behind to continue fighting.

Violet turned to the two boys, "Alright! We can't kill this thing here-" The Nidhogg cut her off by slamming into the floor and writhing around. Violet turned to her fellow classmates, "We run for that ruin!" She ordered, pointing to the huge ruin lodged into the cliffside to the east.

All five of them nodded, "Got it!"

Tanya handed the chess piece to herself then turned back into one Tanya again. Ross lifted his fist, sealing up the hole in the ground with a subterranean column of earth.

Violet mentally jotted down notes on each of their semblance for later use.

As they ran, she turned to the wolf faunas boy. "Hey, scruffy, what's your semblance!?" She yelled as the ground shook behind them and the Nidhogg roared.

"Ha! Scruffy!" Ross cracked.

Xavier turned to the girl, "Uh, I can turn invisible, and my weapon is a jet sword." He explained as the giant worm Grimm twisted and followed right behind the four of them.

"Jet sword!? What!?" Violet questioned before the Nidhogg submerged itself into the ground.

Tanya turned to the other three, "The Nidhogg's travel speed increases drastically while submerged into the earth! It will probably attempt to intercept us momentarily!" She yelled.

Ross shook his head, "English, Four-eyes!" This earned a glare from Tanya and Violet, as well as a snicker from Xavier.

"It's faster while underground! We gotta get away before it-" The ground burst open before Violet could finish simplifying Tanya's words.

"Oh crap!" All four yelled in unison, as the Nidhogg writhed around between them.

"Ross! Do your earth-bendy thing!" Violet yelled, receiving a nod from the boy.

Ross pumped his fist and four columns of earth sprang beneath the four students, sending them flying into the air and out of the Nidhogg's reach.

"Excellent! The Nidhogg Grimm can only detect that which is touching the surface because it sees through vibrations! At this altitude we are virtually invisible!" Tanya yelled at her allies.

"What!?" They all cried, deafened by the speed they were ascending.

Violet opened her hands and channeled her aura, creating a vortex around the four of them in order to slow their ascent.

"Tanya! Clone yourself and cover us in a Tanya ball! We'll collide with the clifftop and make a break for the academy!" Violet ordered, receiving a nod from the intellectual.

"Got it!"

Tanya did as she was told and cloned herself to a ridiculous multitude. Hundreds of Tanyas latched onto each other and held the three teens in the core of the ball they formed.

Ross was sweating uncomfortably from all the physical female contact, while Xavier was fighting the instinct to start drooling.

"I've always wanted to be surrounded and grabbed by hundreds of cute girls." Xavier joked.

"Be quiet, canine!" All the Tanya's yelled in unison, creating an echoing effect throughout the whole Tanya ball.

"Oh, cool! Now say: 'it is inevitable, Mr. Amberson.'!" Violet cracked, receiving an annoyed grunt coursing throughout the whole ball.

The Tanya Ball collided with the cliffside and a few Tanyas dissipated on contact.

Violet channeled her semblance and the Tanya Ball began to spin and climb up the surface of the cliff.

"Wow! This plan is brilliant!" Ross stated in amazement, just before the cliffside began to rumble.

The Nidhogg burst from the cliffside, roaring, before it dove back in like a dolphin dives in and out of water.

"I think our friend wants to play a little longer." Xavier snarked.

"Of course..." Violet groaned.

The Nidhogg burst out again from the cliff, grazing off somewhere around twenty or so clones.

"Gaaaah!" All the Tanyas cried as pain shot through each of them. All the Tanyas broke loose, letting the three of them fall.

"Ross!" Violet cried.

Ross got the simple order and summoned four horizontal columns from the cliff face, creating surfaces for the four of them to land.

Each student landed on their respective platforms, while Tanya clones plummeted to the forest floor below.

The students took a moment to catch their breath before a loud roar and a pitch black worm broke their moment's peace.

Violet's column was destroyed and she was almost sent falling, if not for the quick reflexes and speed of Xavier and FLLFFL. Xavier caught his friend by her waist in his free arm, while holding on to his sword handle.

Xavier then looked down at Violet and the two of them shared an emotional moment...

"Well, sorry if I had to cut in, bu-"

Smack!

Xavier collided with the cliffside.

 _I really gotta stop staring at pretty girls while I'm flying..._

Violet and Xavier were fine, as FLLFFL was stabbed into the cliff face and Xavier had vice grip on his sword handle, and Violet held onto him for dear life.

"You guys alri-" Ross was cut off by the Nidhogg, bursting from the cliffside once more. This time, Ross jumped on top of the beast, stabbing Bullet-breaker into its base and pulling the trigger to blow a hole open.

The beast roared in pain, writhing around and flinging Ross off.

Ross would have seen the end if not for the chain of Tanya clones, grappling onto each other like monkeys from a barrel.

"Thanks Tan'!" Ross exhaled, pronouncing Tan like "Tahn".

The Nidhogg slammed back into the cliffside, just before Xavier and Violet could stab into it.

"Dang it!" Xavier yelled, gritting his teeth.

Ross pulled another column from the wall for the two to land on, as well as one more for himself.

Tanyas were listening to the rumble meanwhile, waiting for-

Boom!

All of them sprang from the column and grappled onto the mighty worm, spinning their chakrams, firing bullets, throwing, and slicing at the Nidhogg. Each strike gained another pained roar and wiggle from the black worm of darkness.

Violet turned to her friend, Xavier, an idea sprouting in her head.

"Hey, Scruffy!" She commanded, receiving a glare from the wolf faunas.

"What is it, discount-goth!?" He shot back.

"Hey!"

"Don't call me Scruffy!"

"Whatever, Fluffy! I need you to get me to that thing's mouth!" Violet ordered.

"That's not any bett-! Wait, what!?" Xavier questioned

"You heard me! Get me to the Nidhogg's mouth!" Violet repeated.

Meanwhile, Ross was smashing the beast's base with his buster, opening its flesh and bleeding it.

"Taaaaah!" He screamed as he ripped a piece of bone-white armor from its skin.

He turned his head to the left to see Violet in Xavier's grasp again, jetting straight toward the spiky maw of the Nidhogg.

"What are you doing!?" Ross demanded as the monster slammed him into the cliffside and almost flattened him with its horrible black base.

Violet, without a word, jumped into the mouth of the giant black worm.

"Violet!" Tanyas and Ross cried as their friend threw herself into the beast's spiky maw.

Everything went quiet, and everyone was still...

Then, the beast jerked painfully, screeching and roaring as blades cut through its inner flesh and bullets penetrated it and tore from the inside out.

"Haaaah!" Violet screamed as her semblance span her around at supersonic speeds, her Spiral Songs ripping, cutting, and shooting through the mushy inner flesh of the great worm Grimm.

She finally stopped toward the middle, vertigo making her want to puke, before she put her semblance forwards. The torn up Nidhogg screamed as it was torn apart and flung about from the inside out, sending chunks of it flying everywhere.

Violet floated there for a short moment, her semblance keeping her airborne, before a column was extended before her feet, catching her before she could plummet to the forest below.

"That..." Tanya said, stuttering...

"Was..." Xavier said with an adrenaline amped vibe in his voice...

"Awesome!" Ross exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air, causing a column to sprout randomly at his side.

Violet collapsed to her knees, retching over the cliff.

"Grab her arms!" Xavier said quickly, he and Ross moving to grab the girl as she threw up off the cliff.

After Violet was done puking and the world stopped spinning for her, the four of them sat on their column... They sat in an exhausted silence, not saying anything...

Until...

"Well..." Ross began to state, catching the attention of his friends, "That sucked..."

The four of them began to smile, then Xavier began to laugh, and soon enough all four of them were laughing their heads off, thinking about how ridiculous the stunt they just pulled off had been!

When the laughter died down, Xavier pulled out his chess piece. A white pawn...

"Say, what piece did you two girls grab?" Ross asked.

Tanya tried to pull out the piece she took, but noticed it wasn't there! She patted herself down, trying to find it, before Violet chuckled and pulled out the object she was looking for.

"Huh..." Ross said simply as he stared at a white pawn identical to the one the two boys had grabbed.

"It's a good thing I grabbed an extra." Violet sighed.

"That's gonna suck for whoever was gonna grab that one." Xavier stated, gaining a guilty look from Violet.

"Yeah. I hope it was that Cardin-idiot." Ross added.

 _-meanwhile-_

"Why are there no pieces left!?" Cardin yelled at his four allies.

Cardin then sighted a group of young and obviously inexperienced students.

"They took'm, didn't they?" He growled.

"Alright boys, lets get us a chess piece!"

"Yeah!" The team of bullies cheered, charging at the poor students holding Bishop pieces, weapons drawn.

 _-later-_

"Ross Mayweather, Tanya Goldwin, Xavier Ray and Violet Storm..." Professor Ozpin stated as the icons of the four students aligned themselves.

"You four have shown that you are quite capable on the field, and equally as capable at thinking outside the box."

They were in the auditorium surrounded by other students, be they higher grade students, or failed contestants, they all watched as the four students were named...

"Team VRTX, lead by Violet Storm." Professor Ozpin announced, resulting in cheers throughout the auditorium and a nervous look on Violet's face.

"You're an exceptional student, young lady, don't forget that." He said to the girl, earning an embarrassed stutter.

The four of them rushed off the stage, Xavier waving wildly to the crowd, particularly the girls.

The next four to step up were...

"Amber Fall, Forest Goldwin, Lilac Spring and Robin Bluegg..." Ozpin said as their icons aligned as well.

"You four showed excellent teamwork and skill at holding your ground against oncoming danger." Ozpin threw a quick stare in the direction of Cardin and his boys.

"I pronounce you four: Team FLAR, lead by Forest Goldwin." Ozpin announced, he shared some short words with Forest before the four of them departed the stage.

The next two Teams before Cardin and his gang came were MOMO, lead by Momo Taro and MTLC, lead by Mang Anseum.

"Well, this should be a fun year." Ross stated as they watched Teams RWBY and JNPR get announced.

And it will be...

It will be...

For as bright as the day may seem, the darker the shadows grow...

 **I freaking did it! I got the chapter out!**

 **Oh... This chapter was in development HELL! But I did it!**

 **So, some quick things I wanna point out: MTLC is pronounced Metallic, FLAR is pronounced Flair, and MOMO is just as it looks. BTW, FLLFFL is an RHG fighter who I based the weapon of the same name off of.**

 **Check out Fiction Press. It's like Fan Fiction, but it's all original works. Check me out, I'm The Last Artisan over there too.**

 **Hope I can get another chapter out!**

 **Next up: What's up with Ross?**


	9. What's up with Ross?

Ross was sitting with his head faced down on his desk, Violet was talking with Xavier about something unimportant, and Tanya was staring at her brother and his team. All four of them were sitting in Professor Port's classroom, listening to the old man ramble about fighting an Ursa.

 _Seriously!? How is it that my imbecile of a brother has become a Team Leader?_ Tanya wondered as she grit her teeth.

Xavier motioned toward a gloomy looking girl with a bow on top of her head.

"That's her! That's the hotty I was telling you about this morning." Xavier explained to Violet, who gave him a strange look.

"Blake Belladonna? Seriously?" Violet questioned.

Snoooore~

Ross' snoring broke up their conversation and gained a short glare from Professor Port.

Violet turned back to her Teammate, "But really? Blake? I mean, she's cute, but you only really met her on the ship. Even then, t was just for a moment."

Xavier sighed, "Yeah, maybe. But what about her hot friend sitting next to her!? I mean, look at the size of that blonde's b-"

"I do, sir!"

The class turned to see Weiss Schnee, raising her hand in response to the Professor's challenge.

Professor Port had apparently asked the class which of them thinks they deserve to be called a true Hunter.

Ross shook his head awake to see the Ice Queen in pitched combat with a Borbatusk.

"Wha!? How'd a Grimm get in here!?" He demanded from Tanya, receiving a hrsh shushing.

"You'll interrupt the girl's concentration and possibly injure her." She said, covering Ross mouth.

Weiss was thrown back by the beast's powerful tusks!

"Weiss, go for its underside! It's unarmored!" Ruby yelled at her teammate, getting a resentful glare from the girl in white.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss screamed, then proceeded to fight the Boarbatusk.

"Well, she's obviously unhappy..." Xavier snarked.

Finally, Weiss stabbed the Grimm's underside, killing it.

"Excellent! It seems we are in the presence of a true huntress in training!" Professor Port cheered, applauding the Ice Queen.

"Pfft." Xavier scoffed, gaining glares from his teammates, "I could've done that in my sleep."

Ross nodded, "Yeah, no let me do it my sleep." And with that, his head went back down.

 _Brrrrring!_

Bell rang.

Team VRTX got up from their seats to exit the class.

"I swear... That is the most stuck up professor I've ever had..." Violet exhaled to her teammates. "He would not stop droning on about himself. I mean, he made Professor Midori look humble."

Something about the name Midori made Ross stop dead in his tracks.

"Did you say Midori?" Ross asked, a sad look in his eyes.

"Uhh, yeah, yeah I did Ross. Why do you ask?"

Ross kept walking, his usually cheery demeanor now gone.

"Nothing Vi', it's nothing..." He kept walking on without saying a word.

"Um, Ross. The cafeteria is this wa-"

"I need to be alone." He grumbled, as he continued to walk down the hall.

Violet was about to go after him when Xavier stopped her.

"There's something up with Ross. I think you struck a raw nerve when you mentioned that professor." He explained.

"Yes. Perhaps he was closely acquainted with the professor and misses him dearly." Tanya suggested.

"That doesn't make any sense though, he's from the Dragon Lands. There's no way that name could mean anything to him." Violet explained, receiving a shrug from the wolf boy.

"I dunno. But what I do know is that something's bugging him. I think some alone time would be nice for the guy." Xavier said.

"Yes, perhaps a short session of isolation would benefit our friend Ross, I find that I can think the clearest when I am alone." Tanya added.

Violet gave an understanding nod, and the three of them watch Ross round the corner at the end of the hall.

Ross' plan was to go to his room, lay in bed, and refuse to wake up until his memories were once again supressed by the wonder of this new and high tech world called Vale.

 _Why did they have to ruin this for me? Why do my failures have to chase me to even here?_

His forlorn thoughts were cut short when he bumped into someone, knocking her over and slipping on her long red cape.

He looked up and around to see a young girl with black and red hair rubbing her head and looking at him.

"Hey! that hurt!" Ruby Rose grumbled, getting to her feet and staring down at Ross.

Ross looked up at her, but didn't get up.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." He apologized.

She looked down at him with a grumpy face that looked forced overall, before finally breaking and turning to a smile.

"Uh, what's wrong?" She asked him, leaning over him and staring at his face.

Ross sighed and looked back up at her.

"It's nothing... I just, well... I lost someone important to me." He said quietly.

"What!?" Ruby questioned, funneling her hand goofily around one ear to get a better understanding of him, "I can't hear you!" She mused.

"I lost someone important to me!" Ross almost yelled!

Ruby jerked back.

"Whoa... No need to shout."

She offered her hand to him in a similar manner to how Vomit Boy offered a hand to her.

"I'm Ruby Rose." She stated, shaking her hand a little to further extend her invitation.

Ross sighed and took Ruby's hand.

"Ross Mayweather..."

Once he was on his feet, he gave her a small smile.

"Hey, weren't you the girl who exploded?"

In a few minutes, the two of them were sitting in team RWBY's dorm together, talking about the school and such.

"All I'm saying is that dust allergies are a much more common problem than one might think!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah," Ross chuckled, already feeling better after his reminder from earlier.

But then...

"So, what was it that had you so bummed out?" Ruby asked, pushing Ross back into his depressed state.

Ross simply sighed...

"Ruby... Have you ever lost someone you deeply cared about?" Ross asked, receiving a sad look about Ruby's face. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you-"

"Yes..."

Ross took a moment to let that sink in.

"I lost my mother when I was just a little girl..."

Ross listened intently to Ruby talking about her mother.

"She was beautiful... The most beautiful huntress my father had ever seen..."

Ross could only imagine, because now that he looked at Ruby, he'd be lying if he said that she wasn't in the least bit attractive.

"I'm... Sorry..." Said Ross, "I lost someone precious to me as well."

Ruby nodded, "Go on."

"Really? I'm a complete stranger though." Ross asked.

"Well, I'd call us friends." Ruby stated with a small smile.

"We're able to tolerate and hold a conversation for longer than five minutes, so we must be friends then." Ross cracked.

Ruby giggled at his little joke before returning to her focused manner.

"It was Master Midori that told me that when I first spoke with him." Ross stated, "Back then he was only known as 'the Outsider'."

Ruby nodded and Ross continued.

"Midori was a huntsman from a distant land. We didn't know that land was Vale at the time, as we we a very introverted little civilization." He explained.

"What's it like?" Ruby asked.

"Huh?" Ross asked in return.

"What's your home like?"

"Oh, the Dragon Lands? Much different than Vale, that's for sure. There's lots of high mountains, sakura trees, pagodas, and a lack of technology. We were only really 'discovered' by Vacuo eight years ago. It's really a wonder our civilization had survived to this point."

Ruby nodded, "It sounds interesting."

"Pffft!" Ross scoffed, "No way! You know how boring that place was? There was no excitement outside of a Grimm attack, which at the time we called Youkai."

Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Well, we were pretty much defenseless until a certain huntsman came to stay. That huntsman was none other than Midori."

Ruby nodded, "I've heard that name before. He was a professor at Signal before I started going there. My old friend Violet had him for Weapons designing 101." She smiled when she remembered how much her friend used to complain about that class and teacher. "Then one day, he just disappeared."

"He didn't disappear, he moved." Ross clarified.

"He came to stay permanently in the Dragon Lands. He told me the story."

It started to make sense to Ruby now.

"Even though he cut down Grimm attacks immensely, the people still didn't respect him." Ross explained.

"No one?" Ruby asked.

"Well, just one..." Ross sighed, "A stupid little kid named Ross Mayweather, who thought that they green guy with the huge sword was awesome!"

Ruby stifled a small giggle.

"Yeah, I thought the guy was amazing, but everyone told me to stay away." Ross nodded as he spoke, "'stay away' they said, 'he's an outsider', 'he'll only get us killed.' they told me. I didn't care. I saw a hero." Ross sighed, "And I wanted to be a hero too."

Ruby smiled a knowing smile that said _'I can totally relate'_

"So, one day, I talked to the guy." Ross said sadly, "Now, six years later, I'm a student at Beacon and he's a body in a grave."

Ruby jerked back when he said this.

"He trained me to fight the same way he did, and when he left us, when he left me, I had to be the one to defend the people from Grimm." Ross lamented.

"I'm... Well..." Ruby tried to find the right words.

"I have to become a huntsman like him, so I can defend my people and honor his sacrifice."

Ross was looking down and suffering a lump in his throat.

"They sent a hunter to take my place while I train here, Ozpin made sure of it."

"Then why are you so sad? It's not your fault you mast-"

"But it is my fault!" Ross exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air! "It was the middle of another training session when some guys in pitch black suits with bone white armor attacked us and held my master at gunpoint!" Ross was on the verge of letting tears flow, "His sword was on the floor, I reached out and grabbed it, I was ready to fight, then I ran away!"

Ross struggled to catch his breath. Ruby stared at him with a worried look on her face.

"I ran away because I was scared, I ran away with his sword and it is the VERY sword I still use to this day! Bullet-breaker."

Ruby looked at the collapsed buster on his back, then gave Ross a sorry stare.

"I... I don't know what to say Ross..." Ruby told him, moving to sit next to him now.

"W-What're you-"

Ruby cut him off and gave him a big hug from the side. As she hugged him he could feel some of his sadness drain.

"You don't have to feel sad anymore..." She told him, "I'm your friend, I know it'll be okay."

Ross tried hard to hold back the tears.

"It's okay to cry, Ross. I don't care..."

That was when he let it out. He hadn't cried since Midori had died, not once. His parents wouldn't let him mourn the death of 'the outsider' and were even glad the man died. He couldn't cry if he was to be a great warrior, so he kept it all in. Now, it flowed from him. Ross cried while ruby hugged him, and eventually he stopped. He was done.

"Feel better, big guy?" Ruby asked him, receiving a shaky nod from the boy.

"I'll live." He replied simply, as she let him go and he stood up.

"Thanks Ruby, for listening to me..."

"No problem!" Ruby mused as he walked out of the team RWBY's dorm.

As Ross walked down the hall, he saw something strange moving outside. It looked like a person, but they were covered head to toe in pitch black. White plates armored the vital areas on their body, and a mask reminiscent of a beowulf covered their face. Their body looked masculine, so Ross assumed it was a man.

 _What the heck?_

Ross hopped out the window and raised his fist to summon a column to land on.

As soon as Ross hit the floor, the mysterious man dressed like a Grimm turned to him and let out a growl.

"Who are you!? What are you doing here!?" Ross demanded, unfolding his Bullet-breaker and pointing it at the intruder.

The figure let out a low laugh, that seemed to have the gruff growl of a beowulf mixed into it.

"You know nothing, huntsman." He said, revealing a low, gravelly voice, with a ghostly overtone.

The figure suddenly reached behind it to pull out two bone white katanas with revolver chambers mixed into the guard!

"But you've seen too much," The man gave his swords a spin, "I gotta tie up a loose end now, human. Nothing personal."

Ross brought his buster back and assumed a guarding position, ready to fight this mysterious enemy.

 _Alright! You've trained for this Ross! Let's show him what we've got!_

 **I'm gonna leave that cliffhanger there because I'm evil. Mwauhahahaha~!**

 **So, Ross backstory is kinda interesting, right? He was trained by a huntsman named Midori (Japanese for Green) who acted as a father figure to him, then was killed by a mysterious organization while Ross ran like a coward because he was young and afraid.**

 **Do you think Ross and Ruby have a thing going for each other? I'm not gonna tell you what I plan on doing. Xavier thinks most girls around him are hot, so don't think he's gunning toward Blake or Yang.**

 **I really enjoy seeing reviews and follows and favorites and such, so please continue to do so.**

 **I want to know which character is your favorite.**

 **Next up: A fight with the Unknown.**


	10. A fight with the Unknown

"Die!"

The dark man came flying toward Ross with his revolver katanas in each hand, intent to disembowel the young man!

"Whoa!" Ross used a column of earth to propel himself into the air, performing a backflip before landing safely on the ground!

"Alright!" Ross gave his Bullet-breaker a taunting spin, "Let's do this!"

Ross sprinted in, swinging his buster from his left to cleave the intruder! The mysterious attacker put his swords up to block, but Ross pulled his trigger, accelerating the speed of his slice and sending the man flying back on contact.

"Damn..." The man cursed, stabbing his right sword into the floor to stop his skidding and switching his left sword into revolver form to unleash a torrent of bullets! Ross saw this and lifted a column to catch the bullets and guard himself.

"Missed me, idiot!" Ross taunted, punching the column down, crumbling it, then swatting the rubble at the enemy with his massive sword!

The mysterious figure flipped back, switching his other sword to revolver form and firing at the oncoming projectiles.

"You're getting on my nerves, kid." The attacker growled, backing up to the sculpture behind him. He now stood next to the statue of a beowulf, and Ross could see damning resemblance.

"Who are you!?" Ross demanded, sprinting forward and swinging his buster down at the intruder, a column rising behind him to his the blunt of the sword, creating more force!

"Pfft!" The figure taunted, rolling to the side and firing a rapid succession of bullets at Ross, who barely had enough time to catch them with the broad of his buster! "As if I'd tell a filthy human like you. You probably wouldn't even remember me you're kind is so dense."

The mysterious attacker charged in, switching to sword mode, and proceeded to rapidly slash at Ross, who was kept retreating back and taking light slashes that his aura thankfully protected.

"Just die! Filthy, murderous, Human!" The man snarled, the ghostly overtone riddling his voice!

Bullet-breaker was suddenly struck out of Ross's hands and he was left defenseless! Ross could feel that his aura was heavily damaged, and he knew he couldn't fight any longer.

The attacker pointed his revolver at Ross chest and was ready to blow him away! But suddenly...

"Get away from him you freak!" Yelled a certain girl in purple!

A flurry of bullets, four Tanya clones, and a wolf faunas on a jet sword came flying in to rescue Ross!

The Tanya clones threw their Mirror wheels, sending the attacker flying back! Xavier landed just in front of the enemy.

"There's only one Big Bad Wolf around these parts, buddy!" He yelled, thrusting the pommel forward and using a short burst the send the intruder even further back! He then boosted to him while he was still airborne and delivered a powerful slash that grounded the attacker! "And let me tell ya," He taunted, "You do NOT want to mess with his pack!"

Violet charged in and fired her Spiral Songs rapidly, sending the dark figure running!

"Get back!" She ordered to her teammates, then triggered her semblance to pick him up, spin him quickly around her, then launch him straight toward Ross!

"I got it!" Ross swung his sword in a manner similar to a baseball bat, using the air jets along the back to speed up the slice and send the intruder flying back down the courtyard and land just before the bullheads!

The figure go to his feet, shaking his head and delivering a glare that rivaled that of a Grimm.

"Screw this..." He grumbled, "I'll kill you another day!"

With that threat, he lifted his head to the night sky and let out a howl strikingly similar to a Beowulf!

Over the edge behind him rose a small aircraft of sorts, painted black as the night sky with white plates decorating it in different areas.

The doors opened on the side of it to reveal more people that were dress the same as him. The intruder sprinted and leapt into the open door, then turned to face Team VRTX. He gave a mock salute before another figure, female by the looks of it, closed the door and the airship flew off.

Team VRTX stood there in the courtyard, exhausted, angry, concerned, and most of all: worried.

The team met again in their dorm room. Violet sat on her bed next to Ross, Tanya sat at a desk with an alarming amount of assignment in front of her, and Xavier leaned against the wall just by the doorway.

"Where the heck did you go, Ross? What were you doing?" Violet asked.

Ross sighed, "Making friends..."

Xavier chuckled, "Yeah, you and that guy really had something there." He snarked.

"Now's not the time Scruffy, I really need to know what happened." Violet said to the wolf boy, receiving a glare.

"Sure thing, wanna-be-goth." He remarked.

Violet rolled her eyes.

"I was gonna come here, to the dorm room, but I ran into that Ruby girl." Ross explained, making Violet and Xavier raise their eyebrows.

"Ruby? My old friend?" Violet asked.

"Cool, did you get her number?" Xavier asked, a snarky fanged grin across his face.

"Yes Violet. Shut up Fluffy." Ross replied.

"Hey!" Xavier questioned, "I'm just having a little fun!"

Tanya groaned, "At the expense of our friend Ross here." She pointed out.

"Hey, no joke's ever been funny without someone getting offended." the wolf pointed out.

"We're getting off track." Violet pointed out, "But how did that result in you fighting that freak?"

"Yes, how is it that you found yourself in that particular situation?" Tanya persisted.

Ross sighed.

"On my way back I saw something strange in the courtyard, I went to check it out and found that guy." He explained, "I asked who he was, what he was doing. He just attacked me, referring to me as 'human'."

Xavier nodded at that last part.

"He could be White Fang." Xavier proposed, "But that wouldn't make sense. Their uniforms are completely different."

"Additionally, they would now have a particular reason to attack Beacon Academy." Tanya pointed out. "Assuming of course that the intruder was attacking the Academy."

"She's right..." Xavier agreed, "Something about this doesn't smell right..."

Violet sighed, "In any case, we're glad we got there in time. Or else VRTX would just be VTX." She pointed out.

"Yeah, I haven't known you that long Ross, but I'd hate to lose you." Xavier added with a kind smirk.

"Yes. I would not be very happy if we had lost you." Tanya pointed out with a small blush. "I mean, without you many of our combat plans and maneuvers wouldn't work. Additionally, you provide a much needed sense of humor to our experience at this establishment."

"Neeeerd!" Xavier interjected.

"Canine..." Tanya retorted.

"Fore-eyes!" The wolf faunas shot.

"Scavenger!"

"Handle Bars!"

Tanya was taken back by that comment.

"What are you implying, dog?" Tanya asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Just saying that you come with handle bars." Xavier said, bunching up the back of his hair into two tails and tugging at them.

"I don't get it" admitted Ross.

"I do," Said Violet with disgust, "You're a pig."

"I eat pigs, Stormy." The wolf pointed out with a smirk.

Those two spent the rest of the night bickering while Ross tried to get some rest and Tanya tried to get some assignments done.

Morning eventually came, and each was asleep in their own way. Ross was knocked out on top of Violet's bed, Violet slept on the floor, Tanya passed out on her desk, and Xavier had fallen asleep sitting against the wall.

Violet was the first one up. She decided to wake up Xavier next with a kick to his side.

"Gah! Watch it Stormy!" He snarled, being shut up only seconds later by her hand, scratching behind his ear. "Wuuuuuhh..." He started panting and his left leg started to kick. This odd sight couldn't help but force a giggle out of Violet.

Ross woke up third, muttering strange things as he righted himself.

"That clown's not wearing pants... wuh..?" The other two gave the boy a questioning stare before turning their attention to their sleeping intellectual.

Xavier nodded in her direction, but Violet shook her head, "I'll take care of it Xave'." She assured, stopping her petting session. The two could've sworn they heard Xavier whimper sadly as she removed her hand from his head.

Violet now stood above Tanya. Cautiously, she moved to shake her shoulder.

"What!?" Tanya shot straight upward on contact, "The most vulnerable area on the Grimm known as King Taijitu is the white head! While most believe that they should attack the black half, it is far more vulnerable on the white half due to the cranium being stored in..." She stopped her rant and looked around at her teammates. "Uhh... What events occurred while I was dormant?" She asked, looking around, her glasses crooked and her hair in a mess.

Ross sighed, "You study too hard, Tanya."

"No; you three simply do not study enough." She replied, gathering her papers and putting them into a binder. "Which class are we attending today?" Tanya asked.

Violet went through her scroll to find her calendar. "Uhh..." She looked through it even further.

"What's taking you so long?" Xavier groaned.

"Hey, shut up Scruffy! I don't usually use my scroll for business-work stuff-things!"

Ross looked at the calendar on their wall, "We got Combat Training in fifteen minutes." He said simply, gaining the attention of his teammates.

Violet nodded "Thank you Ross, now we- Wait!? Did you say fifteen minutes!?" The four of them shot to their feet. "VRTX, let's go!" Violet ordered, shoving the boys out the door with Tanya trailing behind.

 **Awesome start, lame finish...**

 **I'll get the next chapter out soon, I hope. I post on Thursday-Sunday.**

 **SO, anyone here curious about the new enemy that VRTX is facing? They don't seem to be White Fang, and the guy they fought had Grimm stuff on. Revolver Katana's, huh, It's not a crazy design but is still kinda cool...**

 **So, I'm crossing this Fanfic over with DSRT by LawlessAndFlawless. He's another RWBY writer, we're both working together on this story. You can read his too if you want.**

 **R &R, remember to follow. I'll see you dudes later.**

 **Next up: Momo is a boy's name?**


	11. Momo is a boy's name?

Xavier was sent skidding back, his blade stabbed into the floor in an attempt to stop himself from being sent out of the ring. On the opposite end of the training ring was Blake, digging her blade into the ground in a similar manner. The two had been dueling against each other for at least fifteen minutes now and they'd only lost half of their aura.

 _She's a lot better than I thought she'd be._ Xavier thought as he took into account what had transpired so far.

The battle had started easily enough, with Xavier dealing heavy offensive damage to Blake. He had no idea he was hitting copies though. Blake had fought back pretty well after Xavier's initial attack at the start, taking the lead after dealing a few shots about him. Xavier pushed her back after using a burst from FLLFFL, which consequently sent him back too.

 _My Semblance is pretty much useless in this situation._ Xavier thought as he stood up and gave FLLFFL a decorative spin. _I gotta hit the_ real _her, and not a copy._

The two stood opposite of each other, posed in their respective battle stances. Yellow eyes met icy blue ones, the two Hunters nodded.

"Go Xavier! Show that gloomy sourpuss who's alpha!"

Xavier's concentration was broken by none other than Violet Storm, attempting to encourage him. In his distraction, Xavier received three bullets and a fist to the stomach.

"Waaah!" Xavier cried, flying back after taking a brutal series of shots. He was about to be sent flying off the ring when a pistol attached to a black ribbon latched to his shoulder. Blake yanked on the band bringing Xavier back into the ring, keeping him in the fight!

 _That was weird..._ Xavier thought as he shook off his initial shock from being owned. Xavier pointed FLLFFL at the opposition, then ignited, flying fast toward the gloomy girl. Blake barely had time to react as FLLFFL and Gambol Shroud collided, sending shock throughout her body and opening her up for a deadly combo.

Xavier brought his blade across Blake's torso at rapid speeds, delivering five slices a second from all angles and driving her back to the center of the ring.

Blake finally escaped the vicious combo by producing a copy. She backed out and switched her sword to pistol form, then unleashed a torrent of bullets, tearing away at Xavier and draining his aura greatly.

The two were nearly in the red zone, one more hit from either would end the match.

Their eyes met once more and Xavier felt something strange. Guilt maybe? _Man, I can't believe I did all that to such a cute girl._ Xavier thought.

Xavier found himself thinking back to when he first met Blake on the airship. He'd thought she was cute, and would have probably talked to her a little longer if not for-

 _"Why defend a stupid Faun-" The bully was cut off by a boy with blonde hair and small armor plating, stumbling between the three of them._

 _"Uhh?" Xavier questioned, just before the boy threw up all over the floor!_

Xavier cringed at the memory of Jaune's vomit dressing the mood between He and Blake. He had nothing personal against Jaune, unlike Cardin who had gotten puke all over his boot. But still, he would have like to have spent some more time with Blake.

Xavier shook his head, then sheathed FLLFFL on his back. "I forfeit!" He cried, lifting his hands in defeat.

Blake's eyes widened a little, but soon regained their usually gloomy composure. "Well, that was simple." She muttered, sheathing Gambol Shroud.

"Very well then," Professor Goodwitch, the combat trainer announced, "The winner is Ms. Blake Belladonna. Please take a seat with your team, Mr. Ray."

Xavier and Blake made their way back to their respective teams, Blake getting lots of encouragement from both Yang and Ruby. Xavier could feel the glares from his team the second FLLFFL slid into the sheathe. Oh yeah, he was in for a lecture from Violet and crew.

"What the heck was that!?" Violet questioned, the second his butt hit its seat. "I mean, you had her on the ropes, one more hit and she would've been done for!"

"Yeah man, what gives?" Ross asked, more curiosity than fury in his voice, "You two were going at it, then you just gave up."

"Indeed," Tanya added, "Your actions seemed very illogical."

Xavier wasn't paying attention, as he was focused on the battle happening before them.

Some girl named Rei was duking it out with one of JNPR's members; Nora.

Rei was pretty quick and elegant, while Nora's fighting style took on a more brassy and explosive approach.

"Hellooo~ I'm talking to you, Scruffy!" Violet said, pulling harshly on the wolf boy's ear.

"Gah! Vi' cut it out!" He cried, swatting her hand away and rubbing his aching ear.

"Sure I will, just tell me what the heck happened down there." She said, her hands on her hips and her eyes lasering down at the faunas.

Ross was recounting the events that occurred between Xavier and Blake. He took into account the way she pulled him back into the ring after a perfect opportunity at victory. He noticed all the eye contact the two made. He saw the way Xavier had been pulling each strike as he delivered them. It clicked.

"I think our scruffy friend here has a thing for Blake." He said leaning back, his hands relaxed behind his head and a smug grin painted across his face.

"W-what the heck are you talking about!?" Xavier barked, pointing a finger threateningly at the red haired boy.

Both Violet and Tanya raised their eyebrows. They eyed each other, then eyed Blake, then settled their attention on Xavier. Their thoughtful gaze turned into malicious grins and Xavier knew he was in for it.

"So, explain to me Wolf boy, how long have you been infatuated with this girl?"

"You fancy the gloomy type, eh? Well, I guess I better get cheerier."

"I can understand why a pubescent male such as yourself would be interested in a young female such as Blake, but still..."

"Hey, Tan, what do you think their babies would look like?"

"Even if the subject; Blake is the most melancholy student on campus, a rogue such as you still cannot be held to her standard for romantic interest."

"Tanya... You didn't answer my question..."

"In all seriousness, it is a point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-one in one-billion-three-hundred-point-sixty-seven-repeating-the-eight chance that Blake would consider courtship with a scoundrel such as yourself."

"Babies Tanya... Babies..."

"They'd have three children. An oldest son and two younger twin daughters. The eldest would look like a spitting image of the Canine with the exception of black hair and yellow eyes, while the two younger would look identical, icy blue eyes and silver hair. The more adventurous of the two twins would have black streaks in her silver hair."

"Thank you."

"No need for an expression of gratitude."

Xavier's head was being smacked against the desk before him. A pained and annoyed groan was escaping his fanged mouth as the two girls spoke about the potential of him and Blake ever becoming an article.

Ross wasn't too sure he'd made the right choice in exposing his observations, because now his friend was being tortured by the girls and it was all Ross' fault. He had to admit he felt somewhat guilty. But that guilt was far overshadowed by how much fun he was having watching the girls go to town on the wolf boy.

"The winner is Ms. Nora Valkyrie." Professor Goodwitch announced, "The two of you may take a seat by your teams. Good work Ms. Lavender, I'm sure you'll do better next round."

VRTX took their attention away from Xavier's pain and turned to see Rei make her way back to her team.

"Hey Tanya, what's the name of that team?" Ross asked curiously as he watched their leader hassle Rei. Tanya lifted her eyebrows and started to pull over a few files in her scroll.

"It says here that they are called Team DSRT, pronounced 'Desert'. They're lead by David Sky." Tanya recited as she read. "Oh..." She gasped as she read over an article concerning David, "It states here that David has a physical abnormality that damages his aura. Very interesting..." Violet raised her eyebrows as she watched the four students.

"I'll keep an eye on those four. Something about them gives me a funny feeling..."

Class eventually ended after a duel between Lilac and Titus from FLAR and MTLC, a duel between Caroline and Opal from DSRT and MOMO, and a final duel between David and Jaune from DSRT and JNPR to which the latter got decimated.

Violet had split up from her team to use the restroom. She'd told them to go on ahead and find a way to entertain themselves. Ross' response was: "You do you."

After finishing her girly business in the restroom, Violet started to head back to the library where Tanya informed her the rest of VRTX was hanging out. MTLC had apparently agreed to mess around as well.

As she walked down a hallway, she heard a loud and slightly girly scream. The door to her left burst open, releasing a boy. The boy in question slammed into Violet, making the two of them tumble down the staircase to Violet's right.

"Waaaah!"

Biff! Bang! Crash! Boom!

"Ouch."

Violet and the boy were rubbing their heads. Violet finally regained her focus and directed her angry gaze at the boy who had launched her downstairs. It was then that she noticed how cute he was, in a whoobie sort of way.

He had waveish peach shaded hair that only reached below his ears, covering his left eye. The eyes in question were a deep brown, like chocolate. His skin was a pale cream color like Violet's only a slight more masculine. He was devoid of muscle and was barely as tall as Jaune, though he retained a similar squirrelly and pathetic demeanor that matched Jaune's almost identically.

Violet shook off this petty analysis of appearance and donned a serious look about herself.

"What the heck!?" She demanded, "You sent me flying down that stairwell! If it hadn't been for our aura's we'd've broken all our freaking bones, you idiot!"

The boy still had a shocked and bewildered look about him.

"Hey!" Violet shouted, snapping before his eyes in an attempt to regain his attention.

"So... Much... Underwear..." Was all he could murmur.

Violet cocked an eyebrow, then proceeded to shake the boy's shoulder violently. He eventually came to.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." He apologized, getting to his feet along with Violet. "Guess I got distracted in my attempt to escape the horrid awkwardness of my team's dorm room."

"Uh... What?"

"I'm Momo." The boy revealed to be Momo said, thrusting his hand out in a friendly manor, "Momo Taro. I'm the leader of Team, well, MOMO." Violet tentatively shook the boy's hand, but retracted it just as soon as she'd put it out.

"Um. Violet Storm, leader of Team VRTX." She stated, a bit of pride in her voice, "Mind telling me what in the world you were doing, tackling me down the stairs like that and screaming all the way?"

Momo's face instantly turned a shade of red. "Oh, uh... Sorry 'bout that." He apologized once more. "I was just caught in an embarrassing position. My grandpa always told me to flee in a situation where there is no chance of victory."

"I'm sorry, but I have no godly idea what you're talking about." Violet said, a blank expression about her.

"Allow me to elaborate." Momo said, wrapping an arm around Violet's shoulder and spreading the other arm out demonstratively.

"You see, I was born in a small town out in the sticks where I went to a secondary combat school called Herald. I have this strange streak of fate were no matter what, I get surrounded by beautiful women. I could take advantage of this, but you see, I'm far too awkward. I get nervous. So, every day I get put into horrible and compromising situations with beautiful women and I don't know how to handle it. Woe is the sad and hopeless situation fate has placed me under."

Violet simply blinked at the boy after he finished his longwinded tale of embarrassing woe.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm the star of my own personal Harem gone to hell."

"Ah."

"Yep."

"How unfortunate,"

"Uhuh."

"Most guys would kill for your position."

"I know, right?"

"I ain't part of your harem, Momo."

"Oh, thank Oum."

Violet nodded then started back up the stairs to go back to the library. A thought suddenly hit her and she turned to the boy behind her, "Hey, Momo, wanna hang out?" Violet offered, receiving a shrug from the boy.

"Sure, why not?"

As they walked to the library, Momo explained his situation that made him run out his door, screaming.

He'd apparently walked in on his team getting dressed to go to the Community Pool down in Vale. Some of them weren't finished dressing and he'd got an eyeful of some things he wasn't meant to see.

"Wow, that must've been embarrassing." Violet said.

"No, it wasn't. Captain Obvious." Momo snarked, gaining a giggle from the leader of VRTX.

"So, tell me about your team, buddy." Violet pressed on.

"Buddy?" Momo questioned.

"Yeah," Violet replied with a smile, "We can stand for five minutes without-" Violet went over her words shortly, "Oh man, I can't remember that saying." She pouted, crossing her arms.

"Well, I guess we're friends then." Momo said, trying to get back on topic.

His team was comprised of himself and three other girls who were total knockouts in the looks department. He had Opal, Magenta, and Olive under his subordination. So far, they've been decent towards him. The only one that feels salty about him being in charge is Opal.

"They seem alright," Violet mused as they neared the door to the library, "Maybe our teams could hang out someti-"

Violet's proposal was cut short when she opened the door to walk in on a war zone.

Paper airplanes zipped left and right! Tables were turned over to be used as cover! Students were crying behind desks!

Teams VRTX and MTLC were in the middle of a paper airplane dogfight! Papers being folded and launched by the thousand each second!

"It's chaos! Chaos!" Ross whined, rocking in fetal position next to a team of Tanya clones who were throwing ten paper airplanes a second. "I can't take the shelling! I wanna go home!" He whined, receiving a hard smack across the face from Xavier, who had somehow obtained an army helmet and a few general's badges.

"Keep your mouth shut, Private! Else I'll have you sent to the front lines!" Xavier barked. He turned suddenly to a Tanya clone who's skin was covered in paper cuts.

"Commander Ray, the opposition is just too tenacious! Lawrence's ability to duplicate the objects he makes physical contact with using his Semblance may prove to be the clones' downfall!" She reported, just before being run through with a paper airplane and poofing into a cloud of nothingness.

"Blast them!" Xavier grumbled, slamming a white knuckled fist into the desk beside him.

"MTLC forever!" Four voices yelled from the other end of the library.

A huge fortress comprised of tipped over desks, book shelves, books themselves, and an abundance of paper loomed over the library with its dark and tyrannical leaders standing atop!

Mango Anseum stood with her hand placed proudly on her hips! Her long black hair tied into tails similar to those of Tanya, her crimson eyes danced with the madness of power! A top her head was a general's cap, a series of badges decorating her right breast.

Next to her stood the tall and stalwart Lawrence Rayleonard. His short silver hair cut into a sharp crew cut, decorated with a green barrette. His steely eyes focused on the paper airplane in his right hand as he duplicated it into his left.

Taking the paper airplanes from Lawrence's hand was Copper Haymaker. His spiky brown hair was well hidden under a black beanie, though his blazing yellow eyes were filled with bloodlust! He rapidly threw the paper airplanes he took faster than the eye could see.

Titus, the smallest of the team, held in his hands a flag that fluttered proudly, broadcasting the letters MTLC in golden text! his arsenic grey hair fluttered in a wind that seemed to have come from nowhere, perhaps the sheer force of Copper's rapid throwing of the airplanes.

Xavier's fists clenched as he saw Tanya clone after Tanya clone run into the open fray of the battlefield, only to be impaled and cut up by a flurry of razor sharp paper.

"Great Oum..." Xavier cursed, watching the chaos of the battle, "This is hell..."

Xavier turned to his crying compatriot, Ross, on the floor. "Tell me about you mother and those Rose bushes." He demanded, trying to find a shred of happiness in this hour of horror.

Ross turned, tears in his eyes, "No, that one I save just for me." He whimpered.

Xavier suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright commander Scruffy," Violet growled, taking the helmet off of her teammate's head and placing it onto her own, "We're doing this the Violet way!"

Xavier turned around, feeling his head and noticing the absence of protection. His badges were swiped away from his chest and place upon Violet's left breast.

"Team VRTX!" Violet called, gaining the attention of her forces, "Form up!"

Ross came to his feet, one Tanya stood adjacent to him, and Xavier stood in line with the other two. Violet grabbed Momo by the arm and placed him to Xavier's left.

"Alright men!" She shouted, the voice of a seasoned commander resonating throughout her words. "I'm gonna say this once, I'm gonna say it quick, I ain't gonna say it pretty!" Out of nowhere Violet procured commander's whip, "You four are the most worthless soldiers I have ever seen!"

"Four?" Momo questioned, jerking his head back defensively.

"Did I ask you to speak, private!?" Violet barked, her whip placed just below the boy's chin!

"Gah!? Sir, no, sir!" He shouted, straightening up with his hands at his sides.

"Now, we are gonna do this one more time! That bunker's gonna fall, and that bunker's gonna fall today! I'm sick of that bunker! It's in the way of my perfect view!" She paced left and right before her four subordinates, giving each other them a stare that made them shake in their undergarments. "We're gonna storm this base and we're gonna storm it right! You get me!?"

"We get you, sir!" The four shouted in unison.

"We're gonna storm this base and bring it to the floor. If my name isn't Violet Storm!"

"Yeah!"

"Who are we!?"

"VRTX, sir!"

Momo didn't speak on that one.

"Who are we gonna take down!?"

"The Metal Menace, sir!"

"Are we gonna lose!?"

"Heck no!"

"You're darn right!"

"Oorah!"

All five of them thrusted their fists into the air, a fire restored in their hearts!

The five of them worked out a plan as more and more Tanya clones fed themselves to the endless flurry of paper. Finally, VRTX and Momo came up with a plan.

They stood at their end of the ruin that was once the school library, paper airplanes stabbed all over the floor. Violet Storm stood at the head of their triangular formation, her whip pointed triumphantly toward the enemy. Xavier stood to her right, a yardstick held tightly in his right hand, his wolf ears twitching furiously as he overlooked the field of battle. To her left stood Ross, wielding another measuring stick that stretched six feet long the time around, a furious, yet also scared look dancing in his eyes. Momo stood behind her, bouncing nervously, a protractor in each hand, held like fisticuffs. Tanya's sprinted across the battlefield, acting simply as fodder for Copper's insane throwing speed.

An assured smirk spread across Violet's face as she thrust her whip forward crying: "Charge!"

All of VRTX (and Momo) ran forward, weapons swinging and ready to fight!

Xavier activated his Semblance quickly, turning invisible before getting into combat. Ross ran to the front of a battalion of Tanya's creating a column of flooring material, knocking it down, then rolling it before him like a barricade. Momo ran forward next to Violet, punching the paper airplanes out of the air with his Semblance that allowed him to compress, launch, and expand pockets of air.

Mango's eyes widened when she saw Team VRTX (and Momo)'s advance. She turned to Titus and he nodded back at her. Titus gripped his leader's shoulder, then used his Semblance to teleport the two of them down to the battlefield.

In Mango's hand was a pair of rulers with papers folded around the ends to make makeshift tomahawks. Titus appeared holding the MTLC flagpole still. The two stood next to each other, before nodding and sprinting out to face their oncoming enemy.

"We got enemies on the field!" Momo cried to his friend running alongside him.

Mango leapt into the air, then threw her makeshift tomahawks to the floor, creating a shockwave with her semblance and knocking the two over. She was quickly knocked out of the sky by a column of flooring, launched up from the ground by Ross.

"I got you covered!" He shouted assuredly to his leader and friend. He turned to continue pressing onward when-

Bam!

Ross' face met a flagpole and Ross was sent flying back by none other than Titus. Ross skidded to a halt, then whipped his head up to look the flag bearer in the eyes. He charged in, measuring stick swinging at Titus' head. They titanium haired boy caught Ross' strike with his flagpole and thrust his palm into the boy's chest, sending him back once more.

Momo delivered a hard punch to Mango's face, sending her back, before Violet jumped over him to swat her rapidly with a pair of rulers she obtained at an undisclosed time. Violet was rapidly thrashed seconds later by a flurry of paper airplanes that sent her back to the floor.

"Tanya ball!" Violet ordered, pumping her fist into the air.

Ross nodded and pumped his fist into the air as well, creating a column of flooring material that launched a ball of Tanya clones at the desk bunker.

Lawrence saw this and gritted his teeth. He grabbed a six foot measuring stick that had a globe tied to it by a strand of measuring tape, then jumped toward the Tanya ball, smashing it to smithereens with his makeshift morningstar.

Xavier suddenly appeared next to Copper, his yardstick held just beneath his chin.

"How'd you get here!?" Copper demanded, reaching behind him slowly to grab a yardstick as well.

"I was in the ball." Xavier said, shrugging, "I should thank your friend for jumping off, now I only have to deal with one of you."

"Well, I guess I don't have to share with the big guy!" Copper said, whacking away the yardstick from his chin with a yardstick of his own. "No show me what you got, Scruffy."

The two of them exchanged a quick array of slashes with their 'swords', before coming to a struggle of strength. Xavier and Copper pushed violently against each other, eyes glaring into each other, teeth clenched with fury.

Down below, a horde of Tanyas ripped and tore at the fortress's walls in an attempt to bring it down.

"Hey!" They heard, before a few of them were blown away by a globe at the end of a strand. "You're forgetting about me." Lawrence said, glaring at the army of clones.

The clones all turned to face the new threat, fists clenched and ready to fight.

"You believe that an imbecile such as yourself could stand up to a genius such as us?" All the clones taunted in unison, creating an intimidating echo that filled the battlefield.

"Just shut up and come on!" Lawrence yelled, charging in and blowing away five clones with one swipe of his makeshift morningstar. Hundreds of clones sprinted towards the silver haired boy and he swatted them away in an array of swipes and butts with his weapon, before leaping into the air, duplicating his weapon, then slamming down. Clones were sent flying and poofing, dissipating with ease as the boy blew through them like they were paper.

Momo, Violet, and Mango were in a brawl. The three leaders threw everything they had into each attack, sending each other flying and making the ground shake.

"Give up Mango! Your team is exhausted!" Violet cried, lifting her fist into the air.

Copper slammed down next to Mango, as did Titus. Lawrence was covered in a pile of Tanya clones, coating him like an army of angered fire ants.

Mango saw her team's condition and knew that defeat was inevitable.

"We surrender." She said, lifting her hands into the air defeatedly. Her two remaining team members were slack jawed at her action, but soon followed suit. "Yes, we surrender." They admitted, hands raised as well.

"Hooray!" Team VRTX and Momo cheered, pumping their fists into the air.

All the Tanya clones around Lawrence disappeared, leaving a screaming and squirming young man lying on the floor. Everyone turned to the boy, laughing. He finally opened his eyes, realizing that he was defeated.

"Teams VRTX and MTLC!"

The two teams (and Momo) turned to see Professor Goodwitch standing there with her hands placed angrily on her hips.

"Oh... Uh..." Violet stuttered, taking her army helmet off and throwing it through a closed window. A grunt of pain could be heard from the school grounds below.

"Oh, uh... You see... hehe..." Mango stumbled, throwing her makeshift tomahawks out as well, slamming into the same person who'd made the grunt of pain seconds earlier.

Professor Goodwitch stomped up to the group, waving around her wand. Desks, bookshelves, papers, books, computers, and all the ruin of the battle repairing around them.

"This is a place for studying! If you wanted to have a battle, then see me about it during Combat training!" She barked, pointed her wand threateningly at the three leaders. "Any more incidents like this and you will all be placed in detention! You understand!?"

The students were lined up in military formation as they were beforehand.

"Sir, yes sir!"

Professor Goodwitch jerked back at this motion, a confused look about her.

"Well, good then." She said, turning to leave as the last book was slid into its rightful place in its rightful shelf. "You are all dismissed."

The nine of them turned to each other, grinning. Eventually this simple grinning turned into full blown laughter.

Violet smiled as she looked over her friends.

 _Yeah... Friends... That's a good word to use._

 **Okay! Sorry I'd taken so long to update this chapter. I'd needed some inspiration, luckily Volume 3 was released on Rooster Teeth! Yay!**

 **Did you all like the Paper Airplane Battle? I wanted to do it faster but the words just kept flowing. Now I have an extra long chapter for y'all to read. I made a few Saving Private Ryan references in there, as well as some Patton.**

 **So, I'ma include my buddy LawlessAndFlawless0's team: DSRT into the story. Don't worry, we're friends. We have the whole story worked out, and he's including VRTX into his side of the story as well.**

 **Little Trivia: Team MTLC are all named after Metals. Magneseum (Mango Anseum), Titanium (Titus Justinian), Lawrencium (Lawrence Rayleonard), and Copper (Copper Haymaker). Momo is also the Japanese word for Peach. I based Momo Taro off of the Japanese folk tale; Momotarou.**

 **I decided to hint at some Catscan (remember that means BlakexXavier), but don't worry, it won't overshadow the rest of the story. And to those of you that may be looking for some LGBTQ stuff: stay tuned.**

 **So, be on the lookout for more chapters coming soon. Remember to check out DSRT by LawlessAndFlawless0, it runs parallel to VRTX.**

 **Read and Review.**

 **Artisan Out!**


	12. Alpha and Omega

Team VRTX had decided to go into Vale a few hours after their incident in the library. Xavier claimed that it was freedom fighting, while Tanya described it as : "A waste of good time, resources, and learning material. As well as a colossal display of stupidity." They got off free of punishment somehow. Apparently ridiculous occurrences such as that were common in Beacon.

Back down in the city of Vale, the four teens of Team VRTX were walking. Apparently Violet wanted to by a few specialized Dust cartridges for her Spiral Songs.

"Wow..." Ross said in awe as he took in his surroundings. He tailed behind the group as he was walking very slowly, turning around slowly like a camera on panoramic capture mode.

"What's up with Ross?" Xavier asked, motioning behind him with his thumb.

"Oh, Ross? He's just never been to Vale before. Or any modern city for that matter." Violet replied without looking at Xavier.

Xavier's head jerked back a little, "Wait, what?" He questioned.

"Indeed 'what?', I don't recall ever being disclosed this information about our comrade Ross." Tanya added.

Violet turned to her two teammates, "Oh, yeah. He's not from Vale. Or any other Kingdom for that matter." Violet looked further past her friends toward Ross. "Ross! Quit your gawking and catch up!" She ordered, snapping Ross back to reality.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned the Dragon Lands yesterday." Xavier recalled, "Wait, where the heck are the Dragon Lands?" Xavier asked.

"The Dragon Lands are above this continent, between Vale and Vacuo," Ross said, suddenly appearing between Tanya and Xavier.

"Waah!?" The two exclaimed, moving away, "Don't scare me like that!" Xavier exclaimed.

"It's not a big settlement, or very technologically advanced," Ross began to explain.

Tanya had her hand on her chin in thought, "Yes, I remember coming across this in my research a year or so ago. Apparently when Vacuo found your village they weren't even utilizing electricity. It's a real wonder how your people survived this long."

Xavier nodded, "Whoa, that's intense..." He walked ahead of the group before turning to them, "But not as brutal as where I grew up." This statement made the group raise their eyebrows.

"Wait, where are you from, Xavier?" Violet asked the Wolf boy.

"Yeah, I've kinda been wondering that myself." Ross added.

Xavier simply shrugged, "I guess it couldn't hurt to tel-" Before Xavier could finish what he was saying, his ears picked up a sound. A scream. "Someone's in trouble!" Xavier growled, pulling FLLFFL from its sheathe and startling his teammates.

"Wait, what!?" Violet demanded, unfolding Spiral Songs. "What are yo-"

"Over there!" Xavier pointed his sword eastward, "I heard screaming! We gotta go before someone gets hurt." Xavier punched in a few buttons on FLLFFL, gaining a whir and a blue glow from the handle.

"Xavier, wait! We need to-"

Fwoosh! Xavier blasted off toward the screams he heard, leaving his team in a cloud of his jet sword's exhaust.

"Come up with a plan..." Violet finished with a grumble. Ross unholstered and unfolded Bullet-breaker, and Tanya unfolded Mirror Wheels.

Tanya's scroll beeped furiously, opting her to check it and see a message from Xavier, though his contact name was labeled 'Stupid Dog'. It said: _'Dust 'til Dawn, 11th street'._ "It seems that we now are informed of which location we're going to be closing in on." She said, showing the message to her teammates.

On the East side of town, a Dust shop's frontmost section had been blasted down. Inside were a group of around twenty Faunas dressed in the notorious uniforms of the White Fang. They were taking Dust in large amounts by the canister, and crystal. The man working the register was cowering behind his desk in fear.

On a rooftop outside was Xavier Ray, crouched on the ledge and looking over the situation. Without planning, he span his sword decoratively, then boosted down and through the structure's opening.

As he landed, so did another. Xavier turned to his left to see a boy a little less than a year younger than him standing there with a crater around his legs, presumably from impacting the floor. He had short black hair in a sharp crewcut, sky blue eyes, and a determined look flaring about him. He wore a grey combat vest, a sky blue t-shirt, blue metallic vambraces, and baggy ash grey jeans with a sky blue stripe down the outside that were stuffed into blue plated combat boots. In his hand was a simple longsword.

 _Where have I seen this guy before?_ Xavier asked himself while exchanging glances with the boy.

"Beat it, Scruffy, I'm gonna stop this heist!" The boy yelled at Xavier, pointing his sword threateningly at the Wolf boy.

Xavier scoffed, then spun his sword decoratively before crossing his blade with the boy's. "As if! I got here first, little pig, so I suggest you go squirming home while I blow this house down!"

The two of them had the ends of their swords pointed at each other, a glare in each of their eyes. They were ready to go at it, when...

"Hey! We got Huntsmen outside!"

The two boy's pissing contest was interrupted by a White Fang member who pointed out their presence.

"Fight later! Heist now!" The boy commanded, opting a nod of agreement from Xavier. "Haaaah!" The two of them cried as they charged in to face the enemy!

Xavier began with a boost from FLLFFL, landing in the middle of the group and catching all their attention. "Alright, let's do this!" He exclaimed, slamming his pommel down into the floor and igniting it to create an explosion of blue exhaust!

The other boy leapt in through the opening, lightning buzzing from his free hand and into a pair of robbers! "Hey, it's that one Lord's son, Daniel or something!" One of the terrorists yelled, catching everyone's attention, "You mean that bastard, Ommund Sky!? This is his kid!?" Another asked.

The boy's brow furrowed with anger, "The name's David, you idiots." He growled menacingly, "And no one, _no one_ , talks about my dad like that!" The boy, revealed to be David Sky, gripped his sword tightly. He stabbed his longsword into the floor, then swung himself into the chest of a White Fang member, then pulled his sword out, using the momentum from the release he brought his sword across another terrorist's face!

Xavier was elsewhere in the shop, using his blasts from his nozzle to blow the enemy away and propel himself to his next target. "You White Fang types really need to get your heads on straight!" Xavier exclaimed as he used a boost from his sword to accelerate a stab that knocked a group of robbers into the air like bowling pins! He cut the boost off and landed swiftly on his feet next to a knocked over container of Dust Crystals.

Xavier turned to see three terrorists attempting to sneak up on him, to which he turned to face. The three stopped and started to back up, knowing they made a mistake. "Three little pigs, ready for the slaughter." Xavier muttered intimidatingly, approaching them slowly and allowing some exhaust from FLLFFL to escape to add to the intimidation.

The three decided to shake off their fear and charge the boy. _Big mistake._ Xavier thought as he burst at them, delivering a beautiful array of deadly slashes that left the three in horrible pain!

Xavier turned his attention to David who was surrounded on all sides by White Fang terrorists.

"Ohoho! We are gonna have a field day on this brat!" One terrorist chuckled, "Man, to think that Ommund Sky would have such a weakling for a son." Another taunted.

All David did in response was chuckle, "You idiots are in for it now." He muttered.

David spread out his arms, sword now sheathed on his back. Blue light started to outline his veins and his eyes glowed in a bright azure! Lightning began to arc from the palms of his hands, gathering and building to become larger.

"Prepare yourselves, you animals!"

The group of terrorists charged in at him, but were met with an explosion of azure light! Static and lightning buzzed throughout their bodies as they twitched in pain. David grinned as he dashed between his disabled enemies, delivering brutal strike after strike, breaking his enemy down and defeating them one by one!

Soon enough, the White Fang had been taken care of. Those who hadn't been knocked out or worse had fled the scene in fear.

All that was left were the two boys, some unconscious criminals, and a broken building.

Xavier looked over his shoulder at the panting brunette. Lightning was discharging from his skin and licking at the floor, spreading a vibrant blue glow.

"Uhh, hey..." Xavier started, sheathing FLLFFL and moving toward David. "You did pretty-"

David turned to him, his eyes glowing blue, "Shut up!" He yelled, an electronic vibe in his voice, "I could've taken those guys, easy! I didn't need your help."

Xavier lifted his hands defensively before backing off a little, "Dude, chill out! I was just sayin' that you did a good job."

The lightning around David faltered a little, "You're just patronizing me." He grumbled, making way for the exit.

"David!"

Xavier and David turned to see a group of three students making their way to the decimated Dust Shop.

One was a brown and yellow cat faunas, wearing some kind of armor mixed with half professional and half grunge attire. On his back was a bow of sorts.

Another was a girl with pale skin and dirty blonde hair that reminded Xavier of Tanya, who wore casual white and grey attire, with an armband that said 'Snowbelle'.

The third was another girl who Xavier recognized as Rei Lavender. Her long black hair and white and purple outfit were unmistakeable.

"Your team?" Xavier asked as the three approached. David briefly glanced over his shoulder at Xaiver, "Yeah, my team." David walked forward, the lightning around him dying down.

"D-david! Are y-you okay?" The girl in white questioned, looking down semi-nervously as he exited the wreck that was once a Dust shop.

"David!" Rei shouted, preparing to slap him in the back, but pulling back as to not get herself zapped, "What the heck was that!? You left us without warning." She scolded.

"Yeah, that was a pretty dumb move." The faunas boy grunted, leaning against a streetlight. "You broke protocol, you scatterbrain. You could've been killed if not for the other guy here." The boy pointed toward Xavier briefly, before turning his attention back to David.

"Guys, leave me alone." David said, moving forward, "I didn't need help, not from him, not from you. I can do things on my own."

The girl in white slid in front of David, blocking his way.

"Out of the way, Caroline." David grunted, annoyed.

"No!" She said, "You could've been hurt, then what good a leader would you be?"

"You guys ore only concerned because I got this stupid condition."

"No," Rei butted in, "We're concerned because we're your friends."

Xavier watched the group argue with David. It reminded him somewhat of the conversations he'd have with his brother back home in Palos.

" _Irvine! You shouldn't take on those Humans without anyone to back you up!" Yelled twelve year old Xavier to his older brother Irvine Ray. Irvine's emerald green eyes glowed kindly at his little brother, his waist length silver hair blowing in the autumn wind._

 _"Relax little guy, I'm doing what's right for us!" Irvine assured, running his hands through Xavier's silver hair and tussling it up. "I'm gonna get some help, don't worry. My friend Adam asked me to see some likeminded individuals." Irvine then proceeded to scratch behind Xavier's ear like he'd always loved._

 _"Wrruuuh..." Xavier began to pant, gaining a chuckle from his eighteen year old brother._

 _"Everything's gonna be fine, little guy. We're gonna be fine."_

 _Irvine stood up and holstered LFFLLF onto his back, a five foot long jet sword that turned split at the blades seam, allowing a seven foot laser to shoot between the blades and extend its length._

 _"Everything's gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine..."_

That was the last time he'd seen his brother in person. He'd seen his brother multiple other times, though none was he glad to see.

 _"White Fang bombs another Schnee Dust Company facility. Three hundred workers killed, five hundred injured."_

 _The news report played all over the TVs and radios of Palos. No matter where Xavier went, he'd hear about this horrible event. So he finally stood in front of a TV store, watching the news play out._

 _Xavier was fighting back the tears as he saw the dark indigo paw insignia that was sprayed all over the walls, along with red thorny roses and a black upward flame insignia._

 _Xavier looked at the indigo insignia and tears began to form._

 _"Irvine..."_

Xavier shook his head angrily, trying to get the bad memories of his brother to go away.

"Hey Xav'!"

The wolf boy turned his head to see the rest of Team VRTX walk in on the scene. Ross looked out of breath, Tanya looked annoyed, and Violet looked impressed with her surroundings.

"Wow, Scruffy..." She said, walking over a few unconscious bodies, "You do all this yourself?"

"Uhh..." Xavier scratched the back of his head, then he turned to see David and his team still bickering. "Actually, that guy helped me out a bit."

Violet turned her attention to the group of students outside.

"David? The cripple?" Violet questioned before receiving a glare from Xavier., "what?"

"He's not a cripple..." Xavier corrected, "You should'a seen the guy. He leveled like seven or so with one blast."

"Blast?" Tanya questioned, "You mean he could use the Dust he's been fused with as a weapon?" Tanya leaned back in thought, her foot tapping, her hand rubbing her chin, "That would take an incredible amount of skill and concentration, as it is already quite difficult to channel fused Dust, even while one's Aura is at proper levels."

"He must be a master with Dust control then..." Ross mumbled.

"Yeah... Incredible..."

Soon enough, the four of them had left the scene. They weren't there when the police came around to clean up the mess, but DSRT apparently stayed for some reason.

"So, why couldn't you wait for us?" Violet demanded, stepping abruptly in front of Xavier. The wolf boy tried to go around her but she kept blocking him off. "Answer me! I'm your leader."

"Indeed, why did you abandon the three of us so abruptly?" Tanya added.

"Yeah, not cool man." Ross said, his hands tucked behind his head.

"I... Uh..." Xavier couldn't find the answer. _Why didn't I just wait for them?_ He asked himself. His thoughts went to the White Fang. From the White fang to his brother.

 _Irvine? I don't get how it could have anything to do with him..._

"I was hoping someone would be there, I guess." Xavier replied, walking between the three teens. "He wasn't there."

The other members of VRTX looked between each other.

"Was it Blake?" Violet asked.

"Now where the heck did that come from!?" Xavier shouted. all thoughts of Irvine replaced by embarrassed thoughts concerning the gloomy girl clad in a bow.

"Well, was it?" Ross persisted, a smile growing on his face.

"No! No it wasn't you immature little cubs!" Xavier spat, trying to cover for himself. _Cover for myself!? I'm not! This is stupid._

"I'm starting to believe that he was longing to see Ms. Belladonna. I can see it in the way he holds himself; his posture. Slinking shoulders and reddened cheeks." Tanya added.

"Shut up, you human calculator!"

Their bickering continued all the way back to the academy, even a few minutes before going to sleep. Luckily the team had fallen asleep in their proper beds.

They had a big day ahead of them, as they would be journeying to the Forever Fall Forest for a field trip.

 _Can't wait..._

 ***Mortal Kombat Announcer Voice* Chapter: Komplete!**

 **Okay! I finally pulled this one out of my ass! Not that it's a bad chapter, or anything.**

 **My goal for this chapter was to showcase David a little more. Seeing a bit of Xavier's past was a bonus that I hope you all appreciate.**

 **Does Irvine's weapon sound sexy? It's like an advance version of FLLFFL. My goal for that weapon was to combine Shulk's Manando Sword with FLLFFL.**

 **We also got some specifics on the location of the Dragon Lands.**

 **So, I've decided to ease up on the exclamation marks. I have no idea that they are so offensive to so many of you. I just like to put some flair in my writing. (Don't you dare respond to that)**

 **Well, I hope you guys are enjoying the ride as much as I am. Read and Review, yo.**

 **Artisan Out!**

 **NEXT UP: More of these Grimm guys!?**


	13. More Grimm people?

The red trees of the Forever Fall forest were especially beautiful this day as Teams VRTX, FLAR, PEPR, DSRT, RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and Professor Goodwitch walked along the thin dirt path.

Professor Peach had wanted her students to gather jars of sap from the trees in order to finish an experiment. Professor Goodwitch was there to ensure that the students would be safe in their attempts.

"Wow..." Violet said in awe as she stared wide eyed at the beauty of the forest. "This is amazing..." She said, turning to her team with a big smile across her face.

Ross kept moving without a single glance around him, "It's not _that_ impressive." He stated, continuing with the rest of the students.

The rest of team VRTX gave Ross surprised stares, one of them even gasped.

"How could you say that, Ross? You're the guy who stares wide eyed at _concrete._ Freaking concrete!" Xavier pointed out.

"Indeed. This behavior is not common of you, Ross." Tanya added, following close behind her teammates.

"Meh. It's not unlike my own home." Is all Ross gave in reply.

As the four students further inquired about Ross' homeland, another individual gazed down at the group of students from a tall tree.

He had a pair of binoculars held to his blood red eyes, staring malevolently down at them. Specifically two teams...

"Targets are in sight. Should I proceed?" He asked someone on the other end of a mic.

 _"No... There are too many hunters down there."_

"Pfft. _Hunters_ , dude? These kids are just prep students with gun-swords."

 _"We do not need you to be spotted, Agent."_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know." The young man assured his accomplice.

 _"We would appreciate it if you took this matter more seriously, boy."_

"Alright! Alright... You got a plan?" He asked, staring at one student in particular. One pigtailed student in tan and brown.

 _"Divide and conquer, my boy."_

"Really man? Just split'em up? That's your big plan for killing off these kids?"

 _"Just shut your mouth and finish your mission."_

"Alrighty then. 'Divide and conquer' it is."

The young man shut his mic down, then let out a long sigh. _What a jerk..._ He thought while staring at the group of students he was assigned to harass and possibly kill.

The boy shrugged as he grabbed his Grimm mask, designed to resemble a Deathstalker, and slid it over his pale face. He reached behind him and gripped the handle of his double barreled greatsword-shotgun. _Time for daddy to go to work..._

A pitch black jumpsuit coated his body, as well as bone white pads growing over his vital areas. He let out a sigh, then looked down at the Deathstalker Grimm waiting at the base of the tree.

He hopped down from his perch and landed on the back of the beast. It didn't even flinch as the boy sat on its back comfortably.

"Alright, let's go." The boy in the Grimm suit commanded, before the giant black scorpion set off.

Back with the students, Violet and Ross were talking to Robin from FLAR about an incident of his.

"So, I was just walking, you know?" He explained to the two of them, gaining interested nods. "Then, completely out of _nowhere,_ this army helmet comes falling from the sky! It hits me right on the head!"

Violet and Ross exchanged guilty stares, before turning back to Robin. "Go on."

"Oh, well then as I'm trying to get back up, some paper axes come falling as well! They slam me in the head too, knockin' me right back down on the floor."

Mango came to their mind as they listened in.

"I have no idea how a _paper_ axe could give me a concussion, but it did. I spent the rest of the day, as well as the next in the infirmary."

As they spoke to Robin about his woes, Xavier and Tanya were gathering sap like they were instructed to.

"Kinda wish those two lazy bums would take some responsibility every once in awhile." Xavier grumbled as he filled up a jar and handed it to his intellectual friend.

"Agreed; our teammates do have a tendency to demonstrate lethargic behaviors." Tanya nodded as she added the jar to their stack.

"So..." Xavier was having a hard time finding something to talk about. "Uhh... Brother!" He exclaimed, lifting a finger triumphantly, "How's your brother been?" He asked, turning to her to grab another empty jar.

"Brother?" Tanya relayed, being reminded of Forest. She turned around to stare at her brother and that Lilac girl chatting away while their sole responsible teammate; Amber filled up everyones jars. "I try not to think about him."

Xavier nodded thoughtfully, "I know how you feel, I've had my own share of family issues."

Another memory of the tall, proud Irvine flashed through Xavier's mind.

" _Don't worry, little guy! I'm gonna be fine." Irvine assured as he went to talk to that boy; Adam._

"Family issues..." Xavier repeated, placing the jar in the hole that leaked sap. "Just be happy that you know Forest's okay, you got that?" Xavier assured, turning to Tanya, only to find she wasn't there. _Figures..._

Tanya was walking away from the other students as she saw a bright gold light flash from behind her. Her curiosity peaked, she couldn't help but investigate.

 _"What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator!"_

Tanya shook her head, a small smile on her face. _Forest, you tell the most idiotic jokes._ She thought as she walked past a a few trees, the group of students growing further and further away. _But now I find myself missing them._

"Sup nerd."

Tanya turned around to see mysterious figure, similar to the one that attacked Ross leaning against a tree, his arms crossed.

"You're pretty far from the rest of the little humans now, aren't you?" He asked rhetorically, before making his way slowly over to Tanya.

"Who are you, what is your objective?!" Tanya demanded, turning her bracelets into her Mirror Wheels and quickly producing two clones behind her.

The Grimm boy cocked his head and shrugged, "I think he wanted me to 'Divide and Conquer', or something like that." He replied, loosing a five foot long greatsword with a bright yellow blade from his back, "You're divided now, aren't you? So I guess I gotta do the conquering part now."

Tanyas nodded, a focused glare about their faces. "I'd like to see you try, imbecile..."

"What did you just call me?" the Deathstalker boy questioned.

"An 'imbecile', an eight letter word for 'idiot', meaning someone who is devoid of intelligence, or commonly known as 'dumb'." She explained quickly to her opponent.

"I know what it means, you wordy, fore-eyed brat!" He exclaimed before delivering a quick horizontal slash at the girl!

Two Tanyas backflipped away from the attack while the central Tanya was obliterated. They grunted in slight pain as she poofed away into a cloud of tan vapor.

"You're not gonna beat me on your own, little Huntress." The boy mocked, walking slowly toward her, "No matter how many times you extend yourself, I'll smash all of you."

Tanya growled angrily before adding seventeen more. "You're slow," They all said in unison, "And you can defend against this many of me."

"Pfft. Watch me."

The young man flipped and switched his sword around and turned it into a sawed off double-barrel shotgun with a four foot long bayonet. The Tanyas all swarmed around him, letting out screams of anger as bullets flew from their chakrams.

The Grimm boy chuckled as tendrils of darkness enveloped him, quickly transforming into a rock hard carapace that deflected all her shots. "You like my Semblance, fore-eyes?" He taunted, before charging up a ball of golden energy in his free hand, "Or what about this one?" He added as he threw the ball past the horde of Tanyas.

The Tanyas couldn't tear their eyes away from the entrancing ball of light as it zipped past them. While they were distracted, the Deathstalker boy was blowing down each clone, one by one.

They finally caught their senses back, then turned to face him as there were only five of them left.

"Cut it out with all the stupid clones, honey. I wanna see what you can do on your own." He told her, turning his shotgun back into a greatsword.

"Did you hear that?"

Lilac lifted her head up and looked around. She and her leader Forest were having a conversation about alligators.

"Hear what, Lilac?" Forest asked, cocking his head curiously as his teammate walked off further into the forest. "Lilac, where are you going?"

Lilac didn't seem to be paying attention as she kept walking.

"Lilac!"

She turned around quickly to see Forest again.

"Are you gonna tell me what's up?" Forest inquired, moving slowly toward her. "You said that you heard something,"

Lilac nodded quickly, "Yep! It sounded like gunfire." She chirped, a big smile on her face.

"Gunfire?" Forest questioned, receiving an affirmative nod from the girl. "Where's it coming from?" He asked, gripping the handle of Dainsleif, his High Concentration Axe-Ballista.

Lilac grew a wicked smile as he took this action, "I was hoping you'd do that! It's this way!" She cheered, running off further into the woods.

As they ran, Tanyas fought.

Clone after clone was thrown into the fray. Tanyas screamed in anger as their chakrams flew and released flurries of bullets, all were blocked by the hard carapace defending the mysterious Grimm boy.

"You know, it was extraordinarily easy to lure you out here, human!" He taunted, slashing hard through a clone and throwing another over his shoulder. "I mean, all I had to do was shine a glowing light and you came running!" He continued, dashing around two charging Tanyas and blowing them away with a quick succession of blasts, "Maybe next time I should just dangle a chicken wing in front of you guys? I mean, that dog doesn't seem to bright; he might fall for it."

Tanyas gritted their teeth and fought the urge to scream, "Don't you dare even imagine delivering harm to those I care about!" She spat, one finally landing a hit from a thrown chakram to the mysterious boy's head.

His head craned from the hit and he cursed under his breath.

"Okay... Oww..." He winced in an annoyed tone, "You hit me, you jerk! Why would you do that!?" He mocked.

 _This guy is just toying with me!_ She thought. _It doesn't matter how much of me I throw at him; he'll just keep swatting me away!_

It was then that the unexpected happened.

All Tanyas and the Grimm Kid turned their heads as a large spearhead attached to a chain flew through the air, landing hard into the carapace of the boy. High power gunshots rang as a girl came sprinting, each step propelled by a round bursting in her revolver heals.

"Taaaaah!" Screamed Lilac as she delivered a hard punch to the stranger's face, sending him flying back!

The chain lodged into the boy's armored shoulder tightened, then Forest came flying at the Grimm Boy, his ballista retracting and pulling him in for a hard kick to the stranger's face.

"Don't you even..." Forest growled through gritted teeth at the boy in the Grimm suit. He ripped the spearhead from his shoulder and flipped away, landing directly beside one of his younger sister.

"Forest!" Cried the nearest Tanya, "Y-you're here!?" She whimpered.

"Shut it kid! I'm not gonna let my sister get killed by some freak in a black morph suit!" Forest growled, spinning his ballista in his hand and turning it into an intricate pole-axe. "Besides, it's not cool to let your sister die..." He added that last comment with a small smile, before turning to her opponent.

"Alright, you weird Grimm freak, you wanna dance?" Forest taunted, pointing Dainsleif threateningly.

Lilac came running to the Goldwin siblings' side, taking up a loose fighting position.

"Aww... You two are such cute siblings!" Lilac squeed joyfully as she looked at the two blondes. "I should take a quick photo of you two-"

"Lilac- fight!" Forest ordered, gaining a quick nod.

The Grimm boy got to his feet, then threw a hateful gaze at the three students. Part of his mask had been blown off from the double whammy delivered by Forest and Lilac. In the upper righthand section of his face was flawless pale skin, a right eye that was an unnatural red and scruffs of his payne grey bangs fluttered out the hole in his mask, waving slightly in the calm wind.

"You idiot humans did it now..." He growled, his blood red eye flaring with anger, "That was my favorite mask..."

In a flash of golden light, the boy appeared just before the group. Before any of them could react, he delivered a powerful kick to Forest's stomach, sending him flying back, then swatting at the legs of Lilac, tripping her, before spinning deathly fast and obliterating five more Tanya clones.

"Lilac, semblance!" Ordered Forest, who had fired his ballista into the ground and reeled himself quickly toward it to shorten his airtime.

Lilac nodded, putting on a grin. This grin quickly went south as her skin began to pale, her eyes glowing a haunting yellow and her teeth began to transform into fangs. Lilac's fingers grew four inch claws that she jabbed into the grassless ground, lodging herself firmly in.

"Graaaarghh!" She screamed horrendously as she aimed her revolver-heels at the Grimm Boy and began to let loose a flurry of high caliber pistol rounds.

"What the-" The stranger cursed as he flipped and dodged away from the sweet girl turned ogre, "By Luna, that's horrifying!" He squeaked, before shaking some sense back into himself.

Lilac had pulled herself from her place in the ground and looked hungrily at her prey. She screamed once more, breaking into another sprint, firing her heels to accelerate each step and creating a crater with each contact made with the floor.

"Oh my god!" Screamed the boy in the Grimm suit as Lilac closed in. He'd been firing shot after shot from he shotgun, but she'd dice each bullet wish a flourish of her claws.

Just before Lilac would have dug her four inch claws into her prey's gut, a missile came flying in. It smashed right between the two of them, creating a large crater and sending Lilac flying back.

The Grimm kid looked to his left and saw a truck of sorts, a turret on the top that was manned by the boy in the Beowulf outfit from days before.

"Get in, you idiot!" Another more feminine voice screamed as the side of the truck slid open, revealing a girl who wore a costume reminiscent of a Nevermore.

"I've got these nasty humans on the ropes though!" The Deathstalker boy yelled back at them. His cocky demeanor faded once more when he noticed the monster known as Lilac shaking and trying get to her feet.

"Now!" the Nevermore girl screamed once more. The Deathstalker boy complied with a nod, sprinting toward the truck and releasing a round of bullets at Lilac and the Goldwins, who had to stay back as to be out of Lilac's way.

As soon as the boy hopped into the truck, the side door slammed shut and they sped away, the turret on the top trying to gun down the monstrous girl that chased them.

"Lilac, stop!" Forest commanded, as one would instruct a dog.

The girl in question halted unnaturally quickly, her skin color returning, her eyes closing softly, her claws reverting to their naturally filed nails from before. She was now the sweet and simpleminded girl named Lilac spring, not the relentless monster that nearly gored the boy from before.

"That was... most unsettling..." Tanya, the only one at this time, murmured.

"You're telling me? I have to live with her!" Remarked Forest as he made his way over to his teammate, catching her by her shoulders to make sure she didn't fall down.

"Forest..." Murmured Tanya as she inched closer to her older brother, who looked over his shoulder at her momentarily before returning to comfort his teammate.

"...Don't worry, Lilac..." Were one of the things she heard, as well as, "... No, no... You're not a monster..." and also, "...Hey, I'm your friend. You're a beautiful girl, not an ugly monster..." But the most interesting one in Tanya's opinion was: "...Don't you worry, I won't leave you. I'll be here for you whenever you need me. I'll be your knight..."

 _"I'll be your knight..."_ Tanya reflected, remembering what Forest had been told be their parents when they were still alive.

 _"Forest," Their father said in his proud voice, "I want you to always be there for this girl, you here?"_

 _Forest then turned to Tanya, a nervous look on his face, "B-but Dad? Why do I need to-"_

 _Their father cut him off by placing a hand on both their heads and turning them towards each other, "You come from a long line of knights and gentlemen, Forest." He began to explain, "One day I can't be here to defend you and your sister, so it's up to you to be the knight. You understand, boy?"_

 _All Forest could do was nod to his towering father, whose forest green eyes looked sternly at the boy. Tanya stared at them too, seeing the love and worry behind them. She didn't know if her brother could see it, but she definitely could._

 _"I want you to be your sister's knight, always protecting her. You got that?"_

 _"Yes Father."_

 _"Good, son."_

It was rare that Tanya would think about the times with her parents. They never did anything more than bring a tear to her eye.

Now, Tanya stared at her knight; her brother.

He'd found a new princess to protect...

She couldn't the single tear that had escaped her, as much as she wanted to.

 **Chapter 9 is complete.**

 **I am SO sorry that it took this long to update! I just really needed a break, y'know. I had family stuff to deal with, thanksgiving, my schoolwork, just a lot of bologna I had to take care of.**

 **I'm back now! Though I don't know if I can update frequently. I love this story and I love my teams, but everyone needs a break every once in a while, right?**

 **Read and Review, I'll see you dudes in the next chapter!**

 **Artisan Out!**

 **Next Up: Stormy Skies, no, we're not shipping!**


	14. Stormy Skies

"Wait, what!?"

Tanya stood before the rest of Team VRTX, explaining what had transpired in the Forever Fall.

They were currently in their dorm room, discussing the questionable events that had been transpiring in the past few days. It started when Ross had reminded the other three of his encounter with the intruder in the beowulf suit, to which Tanya added her advent with the Deathstalker boy.

"Can you explain why you decided to tell us this _now,_ Tanya?" Violet said, approaching Tanya with a worried look about her face.

"I apologize Violet, but I was, er... preoccupied..." Tanya replied, thinking back to her brother and Lilac.

"But you guys see it too, right?" Ross asked, looking around at his teammates, "These people aren't a small gang. That Deathstalker kid had _orders_ to kill Tanya; he was instructed."

Xavier decided to speak up at this time, leaving his place on the wall. "They're definitely not the Fang. They would never directly pick a fight with Beacon." He suggested, "Besides, he was assigned to kill Tanya specifically." Xavier added, twitching one of his ears slightly as he thought. "Perhaps he was cutting down witnesses to another act."

"Another act?" Violet inquired, cocking her head curiously.

Ross perked up, "Yeah, that Beowulf guy was doing something, we caught him."

"So..." Violet thought with her hand rubbing her chin, "We're all targets for this guy, or these _guys,_ as we've seen more than one of them."

The four of them became uneasy after this conclusion was reached.

"Well..." Ross placed his hands nervously behind his head, "Things just got interesting for us!"

Everyone gave the boy a surprised gasp.

"Why are you so cheerful about this!? We have some group of highly trained Grimm freaks that wanna kill us!" Violet practically screamed at him.

"Look Vi', now we got something big outside of our basic training." Ross said, his hands still behind his head, "We're not just 'normal' students anymore."

"Well who suggested that we'd wished to be different!?" Tanya demanded, "Personally, I was perfectly copacetic with being a regular student at this establishment."

"Face it, Tanya." Xavier butted in, "Whether we wanted it or not, we were gonna be forced into dire circumstances."

Tanya rose her finger to reply, but no words could come out.

"He's right..." Violet sighed, finally realizing the situation, "We signed on for this kind of thing, y'know." She walked between her three teammates and to the opposite end of the room, standing just before the large window that outlooked the Emerald Forest.

The sky was dark, almost night. The sun had already set, all that remained were the pink and orange clouds, swirling like paint thrown at the sky. The moon was already showing, though its face was obscured by the clouds that swirled around it.

"I'm not afraid, guys." Violet murmured.

The pink and orange fluff that decorated the sky slowly began to turn dark.

"I'm not gonna die." She added.

Soon enough, the sky became dark. Rain pattered down from the once vibrant clouds, now black in the night sky.

"I'm not gonna let any of you die, either." She concluded, turning slowly to her team.

Violet Storm, Ross Mayweather, Tanya Goldwin and Xavier Ray.

An awkward storm, an eager outsider, a self conscious know it all, and a proud reject.

Four teens attending an academy designed to train children to become expert warriors.

They were Team VRTX, and they weren't about to let a group of terrorists take them down.

"I'm gonna fight back." Announced Ross as he stood up and walked to Violet's side, "Besides, you're the first friends I've made since I stepped on this weird new continent. I'm not about to lose that."

Tanya made her way over to Violet and Ross as well, "You three are of the few individuals that tolerate my extensive knowledge and vocabulary. You three are also the only friends I've ever had." She gave a small smile before giving her teammates a thumbs up, "I'll defend you three with all I'm worth."

Xavier only rolled his eyes when the other three turned to him, "Do you really need some heart felt crap from me?" He asked, walking up to them, "I'll fight these guys for the fun of it, saving your butts is simply a bonus."

Violet gave the wolf boy a shrug, then turned to the rest of her team.

"We're gonna get to the bottom of this, you hear?" Violet said with a bit of authority, though most of her tone was assuring, "We'll kick these Grimm guys' butts, whether they expect it or not."

Her team nodded affirmatively.

"But first, we gotta get some sleep."

With that, the day ended.

Morning came sooner than Team VRTX expected, and they were almost late for their Combat Training.

Ross' hair was in a mess, Violet forgot her zip up hoodie, and Xavier dropped his breakfast burrito in the hallway. The only one that was ready was Tanya, who jotted down notes about each of her teammates failures in her scroll.

"Good morning, students." Professor Goodwitch said to her still sleepy classroom.

As the professor talked about the importance of combat training and why Hunters need to fight, Violet was hugging herself and trying to stay low.

"What are you doing, Vi'?" Ross asked, watching as Violet tried to sink down and hide in her seat.

"I forgot my jacket, everyone's staring at me!" She whimpered. Ross lifted his head and looked around, not noticing anyone particularly interested in Violet.

"What are you talking about? No one seems to care," Ross looked up at Xavier and gave the Faunus an annoyed shrug, "I don't get what you're nervous about."

Xavier sighed, "Dude, look at what she's wearing." He said simply, pointing down at the girl.

Ross turned his attention back to his leader, now looking at her outfit. Where there would usually be a baggy and concealing black hoodie, was a very tight and formfitting purple tank top that exposed much of her midriff and a fair amount of cleavage as well. Ross quickly looked away, though he knew Xavier was still leering.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." Was all Ross could get out as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Interesting, Ross. You demonstrate very chivalrous and modest attitude towards your scantily clad friend, while Xavier shows no shame or apprehension towards staring at Violet."

The other three all blocked out Tanya's intellectual shpiel for their own reasons. Ross due to a lack of understanding, Violet due to embarrassment, and Xavier due to his fixated fascination with Violet's two baiting pale chest mounds

The fights began soon enough. Weiss fought Momo and defeated him with brutal elegance. Ren fought Forest in a close match, in which Forest barely came out the victor. Lawrence and Magenta had a short duel, ending in Lawrence's swift defeat.

Goodwitch eventually noticed Violet hiding behind a seat, trying not to be seen. _Students these days,_ She grumbled to herself, _So scared of being chosen to fight, so lazy._ "Ms. Storm!" The professor called, catching the girl's attention, "Would you come down to the ring, please."

Violet poked her head out from behind the chair nervously, "Do I _really_ have to?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, Violet, you need to come and fight. You haven't fought once this entire semester and it's time." Goodwitch ordered stubbornly.

Violet slowly rose from her hiding place, gaining many stares and such from the class.

"Guys," She whimpered to her teammates, "I have stage fright!"

The rest of her team groaned as she just stood there, still as a board. Eventually Ross stood up behind her and began to push her forward, her feet sliding rather comically across the floor like a statue being moved. Soon enough she stood in the center of the ring, everyone staring at her.

"Would anyone like to challenge Ms. Storm?" Asked the professor, turning to her class. None of the students seemed particularly eager to fight her, none except for one.

"I'll do it!" A voice sounded, a hand raising into the air just afterward, "I'll take her on."

The class's attention shifted from Violet to a shorter boy wearing sky blue attire and a sword on his hip, his hand raised high in the air.

"David Sky, you would like to fight Violet?" Asked the professor nervously. She hadn't given the boy any difficult opponents, as she didn't know if he could handle them.

"Yeah, I would. Do I need to say it again?" He threw back, earning a scowl from Goodwitch.

"Fine, David, I'll let you fight the girl." She said reluctantly, setting up the computer to display their two aura gauges.

David made his way to the bottom of the stairs, slowing as he passed by team RWBY, but quickening his pace with his head ducked down once they looked at him. He was in the ring, standing opposite to the still frozen Violet when a cheer rang out for him from his team's seats.

"Go David!" Shouted Rei rather loudly, "Teach that pale tramp who's boss!"

David looked over his shoulder at the girl and she quieted down, though she still smiled brightly.

More cheers sounded from team VRTX's seats as Ross pumped his fists in the air enthusiastically.

"Come on Violet!" He cried, "Tear that cripple a new o-"

Ross was promptly shut up by a bullet that landed two inches to the left of his head, creating a hole in the wall. On the other side of the room stood Caroline Snowbelle, her gun-qatar smoking.

"That's enough of that!" Professor Goodwitch shouted angrily, throwing deadly glares at the noisy students. "Are you two ready?" She asked, looking at the two of them.

In David's right hand was his sword; Excalibur, in his left was a pocket of lightning that released small arcs that licked at the floor and David. He stood poised; ready to strike. All he needed was the fight to start.

Violet had finally broken from her frozen state, holding her Spiral Songs loosely and looking around the room nervously, knowing that everyone was staring at her. She spun the blade ends forward, holding the handles loosely.

"Fight!"

David Sky took the initiative, throwing a bolt of blue lightning at Violet. She barely had time to react, crossing her blades in an 'x' formation to block the lightning. The electricity got stuck in the metal and she waved her blades forward, lashing two bolts off the blades back at the boy, who caught them back in his hand.

 _This girl's not gonna be a push over, but I know I can use her stage fright as an advantage._ Though David as he charged forward, delivering a left diagonal strike.

Violet twitched quickly and caught his slash with her right Song, she quickly turned her left around to its gun end to fire when- "Nice shirt, Violet!" Violet cringed and neglected to fire when David threw out his taunt. David soon followed up by shoving his open palm on her abdomen and charging Violet full of electricity.

Violet shot back when the high voltage fried her, drastically lowering her aura. _This guy's not playing around, is he?_ She told herself, spinning her tonfas forward to fire at the boy.

Bullets tore through the air, some hitting David, while most flew past him. "Gahk!" He grunted as a bullet struck him between the ribs and gut. Violet's eyes widened when she noticed a small red stain over her mark; she'd wounded him.

Goodwitch was about to shut the match down when David raised his hand, "Stop! I can do this!" He shouted, "I can do this!"

It was then that Violet caught a glimpse of what David had to go through. The nonstop pity everyone through his way; the constant need to prove that you're not weak. _It must be horrible..._ Violet thought, watching David grunt in pain.

"Don't stop the match." Violet said to Goodwitch, who threw her a surprised stare, "He can still fight, he's still worth something."

David looked up at his opponent with a confused stare, but it soon became an understanding smile.

"I guess the match will continue." Announced the professor reluctantly.

David and Violet stood opposite each other, completely forgetting the audience surrounding them. Violet was going to give David a good fight and actually try to win, as she had full confidence that he would and could do the same.

Violet took initiative this time around, sprinting forward and using the kickback from her pistol shots to enhance her speed. She delivered a quick sweeping kick to David's legs, which he jumped over. While airborne, David attempted to strike downward, which Violet avoided by rolling back from.

They came to their feet once more and began to trade strikes, both blocking and dodging each attack thrown their way.

Violet and David eventually came to a clash of strength, David's sword pushing hard against Violet's tonfa blades. David had an advantage in physical strength while Violet had two blades to evenly distribute pressure.

"You're pretty good, David!" Violet remarked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, so are you!" David grunted back, his free hand pressed against the wound given earlier. "Why don't you stop holding back, Violet?"

A smirk etched itself onto Violet's strained face, "I'm not."

Violet triggered her semblance in a split second, breaking from her struggle with David and spinning at blurring speeds. Her Spiral Songs banged quickly against David's weapon like a chainsaw hits a steel beam, dragging at it and eventually whacking it away. She then stopped abruptly, reversing her semblance and taking the boy into the air.

"Good fighting with you, David!" She called, just before launching David out of the ring.

"The winner is Ms. Violet Storm!" Announced Professor Goodwitch, making her way onto the ring. "Thank you for your effort, Mr. Sky. I'm sure your father would be proud."

As Violet quickly got off the stage, happy to finally be away from the center of attention, she was stopped by four familiar faces.

"You're a good fighter, Violet." David commented, his three teammates standing closely behind him, "Rei would like to apologize for calling you a 'pale tramp'." He said, looking over his shoulder at his bashful teammate.

"Well, goodness, I don't know what came over me back there. I hope you can let it go." She said, a bit of red on her face, "I'm sorry."

"Meh, it's fine." Violet shrugged, getting ready to walk off.

"Violet."

She turned around one more time to see David smiling at her.

"Thanks for not going easy on me."

Violet couldn't help but smile back at the boy.

"Don't mention it, shorty."

With that, she began to climb up the stairs to see her team once more, David getting rabid over her little 'short' comment.

As soon as she reached her team, they all had different expressions. Ross was still trying to avert his gaze from Violet's chest, Tanya had a confused glare on her face, and Xavier had a proud smile on his own.

"So, what's up guys?" Violet asked, returning to her embarrassed slouch from before. Tanya was the first to perk up, "Through what medium did it take you such an elongated amount of time to defeat him?" She questioned. Xavier gave an annoyed sigh, " _Please_ translate, Violet. I don't speak Tanyanese!"

Tanya gave the faunas a scowl, Violet chuckling before replying, "I wanted to give the guy a good fight." The four of them stood in silence for a moment, before Xavier broke it, "I know, Vi, I think you did the right thing." The three other members of VRTX looked at Xavier curiously as he placed his hands coolly behind his head. "I didn't see you go easy on the guy either, you gave it your all." Their gazes switched from the wolf boy to Violet, who was shrugging modestly, "Well... He kinda gave it his all too..."

"That was the final duel of the day, class dismissed."

With Goodwitch's dismissal, team VRTX left the subject, as well as the classroom. The day was coming to a close and the four of them needed rest. God knows what dangers the world would throw their way now...

 **So, I finally got around to uploading another chapter! I know most of you who have been reading to this point are happy about it. If not, then tell me where I can improve.**

 **By popular demand, I cut down on the effing exclamation marks! Yay!**

 **ALSO! It may seem immature, but I thought of songs that apply to each member of VRTX...**

 **Violet: "Not enough" by Mustard Plug**

 **Ross: "Gone and faded" by Mustard Plug**

 **Tanya: "What you say" by Mustard Plug**

 **Xavier: "Real rat bastard" by Mustard Plug**

 **I know that all the songs are from Mustard Plug... But the reason is because all of team RWBY's character songs are by Casey Lee Williams, so I thought I'd have a genre and artist that binds the characters from VRTX. Each song's lyrics also reflect the characters' personality and/or turmoil.**

 **The theme for the Team itself is "Away from here" by... You guessed it: Mustard Plug!**

 **The next chapter may catch some of (If not all of) you off guard...**

 **So hold on to you butts!**

 **Next up: "You're not even a pawn..."**


	15. You were never even a player

Three young men and a young woman stood on a cliff that overlooked a large warehouse. Black jumpsuits armored with bone white metal plates coated the four of them as they stood in a circle.

The young man standing in the center stood on the ledge, crimson eyes glaring down at the warehouse, his payne grey hair fluttering in the dark wind. Quickly, he flipped open a black scroll with a buggy projection, the image of an Ursa head trying to push its way through the static.

"This is Stinger, you sure this is the right place?" He asked, raising an eyebrow while he spoke. "Just a dinky old warehouse on the fringes of Mountain Glenn?" As he spoke, a dark reverberation moved through his voice, like multiple of himself were speaking at once.

"Yes," A low and distorted voice replied, "The target is meeting with one Roman Torchwick at this location."

The boy who called himself 'Stinger' grunted in response, "So why are why killing this chick again?" He questioned, looking over his shoulder at the other three teens, all of them preparing their own weapons.

"She's not a threat now," The voice replied, "Nor is she very dangerous to our plans,"

"So I ask again, why are we axing off this chick?" Stinger asked once more, "I mean, I can go kill a Human any day, but I'm wondering what we're doing now."

"She'll never be a threat, child," The young man calling himself 'Stinger' grunted at the word 'child, "But she'll definitely be an annoyance."

The teen nodded understandingly, " _Right,_ I hate things that annoy me too!" He was met with only a wave of static in reply, "Whelp, gotta go. Gonna go kill me a Human..."

Just as he was about to close his scroll, a reply came, "If you can, convert the woman. Otherwise, she's free to be terminated..."

Stinger simply groaned, as his mission just got a new layer of difficulty added to it, "Fine, fine, fine. The Black Queen can join the Grimm party." With that, Stinger closed his scroll and turned to his team of operatives.

"Alright boys," Stinger was interrupted by an indignant female grunt, "Fine! Ladies and Gentlemen!" Stinger turned to the sole female member of his squad, "Better, Talon?" He asked her, receiving a nod in response.

"Now that we got that little bug out of the way, allow me to explain the mission..."

The four of them were to enter the warehouse, which was currently under occupancy of the White Fang. Their mission was to find and execute and/or convert one Cinder Fall, aka the Black Queen.

"Scales, do you have the serum?" Stinger asked his subordinate.

"You think me an idiot, Stinger? Of course I brought it." The boy in question, nicknamed 'Scales', was dressed in similar attire to his leader, with the exception of a full bone white snake mask. He held up three syringes between his fingers. The needles were four inches long, each.

"Excellent," The teen smiled. He then turned to the other two members. "Howler, I want you assisting me up front; helping me clear out the stupid animals." The teen dressed in the Beowulf outfit, revealed to be named 'Howler' nodded, pulling his twin revolver-katanas from his lower back and giving them a decorative spin. "Talon, you stick with Scales, make sure that no one takes him down- we need him for the conversion." The teenage girl in a costume reminiscent of a Nevermore nodded, revealing her to be nicknamed 'Talon'.

"You three ready to kill Cinder Fall?"

They all responded in varied tones of "Yes, sir!" All with their own vocal reverberations, some ghostly, some snakelike.

"Good..."

It was then that Stinger pulled his own bone white Deathstalker mask over his face, an large hole opening the upper right section and exposing some hair and his eye. His crimson eye flashed quickly, turning a neon red, then back to its dull crimson.

"Let's move out!"

Less than fifteen minutes later, members of the White Fang were being slaughtered in front of their base by two teenage boys dressed as Grimm.

Alarms sounded off within the base, alerting the target and her cohort Roman Torchwick.

"What the hell is that?" Roman demanded, more out of annoyance than stress. Three teens looked around, none of them distressed in the slightest.

"Did that dusty old crow actually find us?" one Mercury Black inquired, raising an eyebrow curiously. He turned to his mistress and she shook her head, "No, Mercury. It would be far to quick, even for a skilled Huntsman like him."

Cinder then made her way over to a scroll on a desk, her glass shoes _tinking_ on the ground with every seductive step. She then proceeded to open the scroll, tapping into live camera feed from the outside of the warehouse.

At that exact moment, Stinger had blown a fairly large sized hole in a certain White Fang agent who wielded a chainsaw-greatsword.

"Howler, move ahead!" He ordered, receiving an obedient nod from his subordinate.

Howler then proceeded to sprint forward, barely resisting the animalistic urge to bring his hands to the ground and prowl on all fours. His weapons had found themselves in their revolver forms, as he blasted rapidly and ruthlessly at the agents that poured out of the entrance.

Just as he made it within a few meters of the entrance, Holwer switched to katana mode.

The remaining agents that were still outside stopped, fear ever present in each of their faunas hearts.

It was then that codename 'Howler' let out a long animalistic howl, causing each of them to cringe as their eardrums began to take damage. Dark overtones coated his elongated howl, and what looked like smoke was trailing from the teen's jaws.

Stinger ran between each distracted member of the Fang, bringing his claymore across and through their bodies in a rapid and impressive succession. Faunas blood was smeared left and right across the cracked pavement of Mountain Glenn.

Howler had finally stopped his howl, twirling his swords around his wrists quickly before driving them hard into the gut of a hedgehog faunas. He pulled one blade out quickly, converted it to a revolver, then blew an agent in her forehead. As he walked by the dead faunas woman, he spit down into her open wound, growling like a beast as he marched alongside his leader and into the warehouse entrance.

At that moment, Mercury and Emerald were shifting uncomfortably.

"Huntsmen from Vale?" Roman questioned, tapping his cane anxiously on the polished concrete floor.

"No," Cinder responded, shaking her head, "These two are far too brutal to be from Vale, or Huntsmen for that matter."

"What if they're from Atlas?" Emerald questioned, cocking her head.

"No," Mercury intervened, "I doubt even that 'metalhead' Ironwood would resort to training his students like this..." It was then that a thought popped into his head, "What if they're assassins like me?"

Before anyone could raise him on his hypothesis, a second alarm blared.

"Dear God... I've had the worst headache..." Torchwick groaned, placing his hand on his forehead. "I think I'm gonna go home; call it a night. You got that Cindy?"

Roman made his way around the other three, his young multicolored sidekick following suit. The little girl known as Neapolitan, or 'Neo', gave Cinder and her followers a sweet and disturbing grin as she followed her much older partner.

As they walked out, an agent walked in.

"Black Queen, we have another problem! Two more of these attackers have found a way into the base and are thrashing us!"

At that moment a loud crash could be heard throughout the entire warehouse.

In the largest room, a stolen Atlasian Paladin stumbled around as two teenagers skated across the polished concrete floor. The two teens codenamed 'Scales' and 'Talon' delivered hit after hard hit to the mech, as it could barely swerve around to even get a glimpse of them.

Scales held onto his double-sided grapple-scythe tightly, one end extended and stabbed into the chinks in the mech's armor, the other still attached to the shaft. He slid quickly in a wide circle, tangling up the Paladin's torso and legs.

"Talon, daggerfall!" Scales called out, receiving a determinate nod from his partner. Talon then proceeded to jump to a lofty height above the mech. The roof was hovering less than a meter above the girl's head as a flurry of kunai and black razor sharp feathers rained down on the Paladin, jabbing into its armor and any weak spots left open. The machine quickly began to catch fire from the excessive damage.

"Scales, bottoms up!" Yelled the girl wearing the Nevermore mask, landing softly next to her partner. It was then that the boy in the King Taijitu mask slid between the mech's legs, giving his double-scythe a spin before shooting off the other end into the rafters. Scales then proceeded to retract both scythe blades, extended out by black chains. He flew towards the ceiling, tightening the cord around the Paladin's legs and torso, toppling it.

The boy known as 'Scales' then proceeded to dart back downward, his double-scythe spinning before he drove one of the blades through the cockpit, earning a pained scream from the inside.

The two then turned around to see their Beowulf and Deathstalker counterparts, both clapping slowly.

"Took you long enough," Stinger taunted, "I though for a sec' that Howler and I were gonna have to step in."

The girl known as 'Talon' groaned in exasperation, "We had it under control, Pa-" She was instantly silenced by a deathly stare from the teen, "Er... Stinger. We were just having a little fun with him."

"First off, I can understand that," Stinger said, nodding, "Second, don't you _ever_ say my name, or _any_ of our names while we're on a mission, Talon." He added, pointing his finger harshly in the girl's face, "We don't want anyone tracing us."

Talon sighed, then gave her leader an affirmative nod. "I understand, captain."

It was then that the four attackers heard two sets of footsteps coming out and into the open. What looked a teenager, definitely Human, walked toward them.

The one on the left was a boy with styled shell grey hair and eyes of the same shade, wearing a pale bluish grey vest, metallic plating across his arms and black pants that were stuffed into metal boots at the bottom. About his face was an annoyingly cocky smirk, one eyebrow raised higher than the other.

The four of them looked to one another, "Convert or kill?" Scales asked, receiving a shrug from Talon, but a definitive "Kill." from Stinger and Howler.

The four of them then turned to the teen, brandishing their individual weapons. A double-barrel shotgun with a four foot long bayonet and dust cartridges at the back of the barrels, a double-sided grapple-scythe with blades that fire off and retract, twin revolver-katanas with a chain of bullets in place of a chamber, and a long line of kunai stylized like black feathers along the outside of the arms like Nevermore wings.

"You heard me; kill him."

It was then that the stolen Atlasian Paladin began to get to its feet once more. Or so it seemed.

Talon proceeded to throw Kunai at the mech, the blades passing through and breaking the illusion produced by a dark skinned teenage girl with emerald hair and scarlet eyes. The girl then proceeded to pull two pistol-kama from her lower back and aim them at the four.

"Kill her too?" Howler queried, gaining an affirmative nod from his leader. "Got it!"

"Mercury, bullet-nado!" The girl shouted, receiving a toothy grin from her partner.

"We really gotta come up with a better name for that move." He snarked, proceeding to stand on his hands and breakdance, firing bullets as he did and trapping them in a wind-dust tornado.

Stinger couldn't help but flinch at the familiar fighting style, as he'd had a bad encounter with it days earlier.

The bullets span around the boy known as Mercury, hitting anyone who would get too close. Unfortunately, the four attackers wised to this strategy and proceeded to fire their weapons at range.

Scales took offensive against the girl, firing off one blade and lodging it in the wall behind her. He then retracted the blade, pulling himself toward her with his foot first. Just as he reached her he delivered a nasty kick to her abdomen, pulling his blade from the wall and proceeding to deliver a brutal array of elegant spinning strikes.

The girl finally came to her senses as she was flung away, rolling across the floor. She dragged one of her kama into the ground to stop her movement, aiming the second weapon forward to fire a rapid burst at her attacker.

It was then that the boy known as 'Scales' performed his semblance. A fission in his body began at the top of his head and split him vertically, dividing him into two of himself. Scales bore the same armor as before, but Selacs was coated in a bone white suit, plated with pitch dark armor. both wielded a single sided grapple-scythe in the reverse hand that the other held it.

"What the-" The emerald haired girl was cut short by a second rapid succession of attacks from two opponents at once, Scales striking with brutal and uncontrolled drags of his blade, Selacs dancing around her with elegant and clean swipes.

Try as the dark skinned girl did, she couldn't keep up with the two teenage boys, or single boy.

She eventually found herself forced to her knees, two scythe blades at her throat. It was then that she knew the brutality of this group; what they were going to do to her.

"Please! Don't!" She cried, fearful tears forming in her eyes.

"Humans don't have a say in their fate..." Scales and Selacs both replied in a single united voice. Quickly and efficiently, they brought their blades through her throat.

She had been killed.

Slaughtered like an animal.

No chance to put up any illusion either.

"Emerald!" The boy, Mercury, cried angrily. His angry glare quickly became a sneer, "You're gonna pay for-" He was quickly silenced by a blast in his face that sent him flying back.

"So her name was Emerald?" Stinger asked rhetorically, "Eh, doesn't matter. She was just another kill..."

Scales had reunited himself into one young man again, his weapon taking up both its sides once more. "Is it fine if I take a rest, captain?" He asked, leaning against the wall to his left. "No problem." His leader replied.

Mercury flipped up from the ground, facing his three attackers. His sneer faded, now replaced with a concentrated glare. He exhaled slowly, closing his eyes, crouching down into a position that a track runner might take.

"What in Luna's name is he doing?" Talon asked, cocking her masked head to its side.

Mercury then proceeded to open his eyes, sprinting quickly towards his enemies and accelerating each step with a blast from his gun-boots. "Graaah!" He cried, as each explosive step tore away at his pants, revealing a set of metallic legs. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Pfft, oh please..." Stinger groaned, signaling with his hands for his teammates to move forward.

Both Howler and Talon sprinted forward, the former firing rapidly at the boy's legs, tearing the metal plating apart. This toppled Mercury over as he slid across the floor, legless and pathetic.

Mercury grunted in pain as he tried to crawl to Stinger, unable to hurt him, but filled with the rage of defeat, "Y-you!" each hand grabbed the floor, dragging his limp lower body towards his enemy.

"Quit trying," A dark, wolflike voice growled, just before a katana blade drove itself through the boy's back and out his chest, "You're a pathetic waste as it is!"

Mercury Black cried out in pain, choking on his own blood that flowed from his punctured lungs. He eventually stopped squirming and collapsed.

He had died.

Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai were no more.

Their parts had been finished before they even had a chance to be played.

"Well, those two were pathetic wastes of life," Scales stated as he made his way over to the group, "glad we got them out of the way."

"Heh, you're right; they barely put up a fight at all!"

Codename 'Stinger' grunted, silencing his subordinates. "We don't have the time to celebrate killing these filthy Humans, we have a mission to finish."

The three of them nodded and turned to the way their two attackers had come from.

It didn't take much time or effort to tear through the remaining White Fang members and hallways that kept them from their target: Cinder Fall.

Cinder was standing in the center of another large empty chamber, similar to the one in which the team of attackers had fought Emerald, Mercury and the Atlasian Paladin. All that was present in the room besides Cinder herself was the table before her, several files spread about said table and a scroll giving the woman live camera feed of all the events throughout her compromised base.

The Black Queen sighed quietly, more out of disappointment than any other emotion. Her two best fighters had been slaughtered with ease and her army she'd employed had been torn through like paper. Whoever these four teens were, they definitely weren't Hunters, and they _definitely_ weren't amateurs.

 _No matter,_ Cinder thought, _As strong as they may seem, they're no match for my powers..._ With that thought, her eyes became wreathed in flames and a shrill sound like a scream filled the room.

At that moment the four masked attackers had broken into her chamber, noting the emptiness surrounding the Black Queen.

"So you've found me, then?" Cinder asked, not taking the time to look at the four, "Are you proud of yourselves?"

"Killing a filthy, murderous Human like you?" The boy named 'Stinger' replied, "Of course we're proud!"

Just before the four would have charged to attack the woman, she turned around to face them. Her autumn shaded eyes glinted in the dim light, showing determination.

"Before we begin, I have only two questions..." Cinder looked up and directly at her attackers, "Who are you and who hired you?"

The four of them looked between each other, then back to their target, "We're the _real_ bad guys, sweetheart. Not a pathetic _human_ distraction like you, you annoying little _problem._ " That last word, 'problem' was spat at her like she was an immature child. The look in Stinger's exposed eye conveyed that of annoyance more than any malice, like Cinder was nothing important.

This disrespect and complete lack of fear made Cinder feel something she'd not felt in a long time. Rage.

Her hand thrust outward and a spout of flame erupted between the four teens, spreading them apart.

"Now, attack!"

The other three nodded affirmatively, charging in with each their own strategy.

Stinger took a straightforward approach, firing powerful blasts from his shotgun that were split quickly by a pair of swords wielded by the Black Queen. Cinder would continuously summon explosions around her, blowing back her attackers and keeping herself at a distance from them.

Scales and Talon nodded to each other, the latter grabbing onto her partner as he swung above the Black Queen. As soon as she was directly above her adversary, Talon dropped. While falling, the girl threw kunai and senbon at rapid, catching Cinder off guard and breaking parts of her aura.

Cinder had just rolled out of the falling girl's way before she was met by a boy dressed like a Beowulf. He spun his two sword around his wrists threateningly before letting a snarl escape his mouth. Cinder quickly took the offensive, striking hard and fast with her dual swords against his, fire imbued into each strike creating small explosions.

Howler was blown away when the Black Queen stomped her heeled foot into the ground, blowing chunks of molten hot cement around her. She then proceeded to solidify the magma and send it flying around her at anyone who would get too close.

However, Cinder was caught unawares when a blade slipped across her calves, tripping her. She used her backward momentum to perform a backflip and land on her feet once more, just before being met by a boy in a suit that was strikingly reminiscent of a Deathstalker.

Stinger quickly switched his shotgun into its greatsword form, attacking Cinder up close. Every swipe, jab and swing thrown by the boy was deflected, blocked or returned by his opponent.

Cinder was just about to instigate another blast of fire when she felt a sudden sharp pain across the nerves in her upper back. Behind her stood Talon, her hands extended with thin metal strings around each finger, each string running through senbon that were lodged into the Black Queen's nerves.

Try as Cinder did, she had no control of her movements.

 _How did she pierce my aura!?_ The Black Queen wondered, the pain in her back drawing her to her knees.

"Scales, the syringes."

"I'm on it."

Cinder Fall was down on her knees, her hands forced to her sides while her nerves were being manipulated. As she struggled, her eyes became wreathed in flame, though she couldn't do anything.

 _What is this!?_ She screamed in her head.

"Cinder Fall..."

In front of her was the Deathstalker boy and another boy dressed similar to a King Taijitu.

"How does it feel?" Stinger queried, "To be completely powerless, with no control of your fate?"

From behind him, Scales produced a syringe. The needle glinted in the dim light.

"You should realize by now, that you're done." Stinger continued. Though he looked like a simple teenage boy, he was as devious as a demon, "You should also realize that you were never going to begin..."

It was then that the syringe was forcefully inserted into Cinder's neck, the pitch black liquid within being injected into her, intruding her blood.

"Hehehe..." The boy chuckled as he watched her undergo horrible convulsions before him. Tears formed in her eyes as Cinder realized what was happening; all her plans to obtain power were gone.

"It's pretty funny how you called yourself _'Black Queen',_ when in all actuality you were never even a piece on the board."

The veins across the former Black Queen's body were thicker than ropes, her mouth leaking black liquid and her eyes twitching.

"Feel lucky that you can at least be a _pawn_ at this point."

Suddenly, her body stopped shaking, her already pale skin went deathly white and her eyes shut.

"She didn't make it, Stinger." The one known as Scales commented, looking down on the disfigured beauty that was once Cinder Fall.

Cinder Fall, the former Black Queen, was no more.

She'd been slaughtered by four teenagers in Grimm suits.

She never got to finish or even initiate what ever master plan she'd had.

"Well, that takes care of that." Howler grunted, kicking the dead woman's corpse over and pulling his ally's senbon from her back. He then proceeded to hand the needles to their owner.

"The mission was 'kill or convert'," Stinger reported to his subordinates, "We tried one, but ended up doing the other."

"Not our fault," Howler said, "She just wasn't strong enough to withstand the conversion."

During their discussion, Talon had been surveying the files that were previously on the table before Cinder. "Hey guys, you may wanna take a look at this." She called over her shoulder, alerting the other three.

They came quickly, following their female counterpart.

"What did you find, Talon?" Stinger questioned. It was then that his subordinate pulled up four folders. "What are those?" He asked, placing a hand on her hip and cocking his head, his exposed payne grey eyebrow raised.

"These are guest profiles for someone who'd be staying at Beacon during the Vytal Festival." Talon explained, pulling one out entitled 'Mercury Black'.

"Hmmm," Stinger moved closer to take the file, stepping over Cinder's body like it was worthless, "These could be useful..."

The boy flipped open his scroll, opening up to that buggy channel he'd spoke on before.

"This is codename 'Stinger', the mission was a success. Cinder Fall is dead."

"Good," The distorted voice from before replied, "Return to base at the effect of immediately."

"Sir, I have something else to report," Stinger added quickly.

"Yes, agent, speak up."

Stinger briefly explained the files that he and his team had found.

"Do you think they'd be useful?" He asked in finality.

The line was silent for a short time, save for the crackle of static.

"Bring the files back with you, we may indeed have use for them as you said."

"Affirmative. Stinger out."

 **Did anyone reading this get a hard punch to the gut by the content? I hope so.**

 **So, this chapter was to more thoroughly introduce the villains I have planned, as well as axe off the villains that are actually part of canon.**

 **As of this point, this fanfiction will be AU.**

 **Yes. Cinder, Mercury and Emerald are dead. I swear to christ they will stay dead and will never come back.**

 **And for all those emercury, ember (Emerald x Cinder), Cindury and any ships containing these characters. Screw You.**

 **Not even gonna apologize!**

 **Boom!**

 **Next up: Meet the punks!**


	16. Meet the punks!

"Wake up!"

Shove.

"Waaah!?"

Crash.

"Jeez Vi', I was having a good dream!"

Shuffle, thump, groan.

"Please refrain from awaking us in this fashion, Violet."

And so the day began as usual. Violet woke her teammates up abruptly, they barely made it to their first class, teased Xavier about his closet infatuation with Blake, went to lunch, trained in Goodwitch's class, then departed for the day.

"Despite the repetition of our daily routine, it never grows tiresome for me." Tanya said as she and her friends walked to the lift pads.

"Yeah, no matter how many times I get thrown in the ring during training, I always love every moment of it." Ross added, walking alongside her, "I think I made the right choice in coming to this place."

The four teens made their way to the closest airship. It was a smaller ship designed to transport a maximum of eight persons, lightly armored and devoid of weaponry. A simple transport.

They soon took off, moving quickly through the sky and towards the nearby city and capital of Vale. Below them stretched the beautiful and lush Emerald Forest, no doubt swarming with creatures of Grimm, but beautiful from such a distance.

Violet looked to her three teammates, all wasting their time in their own ways. Ross had his face plastered onto the window, his gawking mouth fogging up the lower half. Tanya was doing some sort of calculation on her scroll relative to the speed they flew and the time it would take to arrive at Vale. Xavier was attempting to extricate a piece of meat or something from his teeth, using FLLFFL's reflective blade as a mirror.

Violet couldn't help but chuckle at her team's antics, catching their attention.

"Hey, what's so funny Stormy?" Xavier questioned, still working at that food in his teeth.

She didn't know why, but soon after this small laugh she began to grow sad. The more she thought about it, the more she realized the answer.

"Guys..." Violet spoke softly, her eyes downward, "are we friends?"

The three other members of VRTX turned to their leader, each with their own curious expression.

"Well, we can tolerate each other and hold a conversation for more than five minutes." Ross said with a smile, "I'd say we are." He leaned back and stretched as to get more comfortable.

"Yeah, of course we're friends Vi'," Xavier assured, "With benefits? No. But friends? Definitely."

It took Violet a few seconds to register the suggestive comment from the wolf boy, "Ewww..." She grumbled, scooting away from him.

"Violet," Tanya began, shortly after that little spout of stupidity, "You are my partner. I located you in the Emerald Forest and I decided to cooperate with you, not once have I believed it was a mistake." Tanya pushed her glasses up more securely on the bridge of her nose, "You are my friend, I would be insulted if I wasn't yours."

These heartwarming reassurances, albeit some of them backhanded, soon brought tears to Violet's eyes. They started subtly, but with time they began to flow freely.

Xavier leaned over to his buddy, Ross. "Was it something I said?" Ross returned a confused stare to the faunas.

"Guys," Violet sniffled, "It's been awhile since I've had any friends..." She lifted her head to look at the three of them, "All the friends I've had are gone, they've either left me or died."

The other three's eyes widened, "What?" Ross mumbled.

"When I was six, I lived in Patch. It's a small island on the outskirts of Vale." Violet began...

 _"Dad!" Little Violet cried, sitting on the floor with a large scrape on her knee. "I s-scratched m-my knee! I-it huuuurts!" tears ran from her cheeks and trickled off her chin, dripping onto the floor._

 _The pale little girl was picked up by a dark skinned man in a dark purple and white longcoat, "Shhh, child..." hushed Indigo Storm with his accented voice, holding her in his big strong arms. "It will be alright."_

 _Indigo then proceeded to place her back on the floor, holding his open palm above the rough flesh. A soft yellow glow emitted from his hand, quickly the wound began to close._

 _"Better, girl?" He asked, gaining a tearful nod from Violet._

 _"Thanks dad!" She chirped, hugging the dark skinned man's leg._

 _Indigo bent down to his daughter's level, ruffling the girl's silvery-white hair with his hand, "You need to learn to get up, Vyolita." He told her, "I won't always be here to pick you up and heal your booboos."_

 _Violet nodded to her father, Indigo, then pranced away to continue on her way to Ruby's house._

"Wow, sounds like a good dad." Xavier said, leaning forward. Ross nodded beside him.

"But, that seems odd to me," Tanya said, "A tall dark skinned man like Indigo would have a small probability of fathering a small fair skinned girl like you."

Violet nodded, "He wasn't my father by blood, but he was 'my father by soul' as he would say." She smiled as she recalled her adopted father and all of his little sayings and actions.

"What happened to him?" Ross asked curiously. Unbeknownst to him, he'd just pulled off a thin scab...

 _"Dad" Little Violet cried once more. She had aged four years and now had purple streaks at the fray of her hair._

 _All around her was fire._

 _Howls and screams filled the night, filling the young girl with fear. Fear of the Darkness that surrounded her and growled at her, threatening to eat her. Vibrant red eyes stared at her from the smoke and shadows, eying her like the defenseless lamb she was._

 _Just then, a loud crash sounded, as well as the shifting of metal and the pained whimper of wounded Beowulves._

 _Violet opened her eyes to see her father, Indigo standing before her. Around each hand was a four foot long_ _drillbit_ _glowing bright red at the seems with fire Dust. He looked over his shoulder at his daughter, cowering on the floor._

 _"Run, child!" He commanded, his deep accented voice filled with rage and urgency, "Now is the time when you pick yourself up!"_

 _Running, Violet could hear the vrrrrng of her father's drills, piercing through and tearing apart the Grimm that attacked._

 _She ran._

 _She never stopped running._

 _She never saw her father again either._

"That's it..." Violet finished, "I never saw my father; my greatest friend ever again."

The other two simply sat there, still as stone. Ross however, go out of his seat and made his way over to his friend. "I know how you feel, Vi'." He assured, placing his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "But we can't hold onto the past, can we?"

Violet turned her head upward, looking at her friend's smile. She couldn't help but smile back. "You're right, Ross." The rest of the ride was quiet.

Soon enough, the transport reached its destination at a dropzone in the center of town.

"Alright," Xavier said as the departed the ship, "Leave all the emo on the ship, we're here to have fun!"

The other three members turned to member 'X' of VRTX and gave him slightly offended stares.

"Too soon?" Xavier asked, scratching his head bashfully.

"No, you're right Xav'; we can't just droop around the place like a bunch of pessimists." Violet affirmed with a nod, "Let's get cheery!" She cried, pumping her fist in the air.

The others made a similar motion, though it lacked any semblance of energy and was accompanied by a lame: "Myeeh..." as a cheer.

"So why'd we come here again, Vi?" Ross asked, spinning around in awe at the technology surrounding him. He was stopped when Tanya caught his arm and point him forward.

"We're here because of that." Violet replied, pointing at a banner being raised that read 'Vytal Festival!'.

"We're here for a banner?" Xavier asked.

"Negatory, you imbecile!" Tanya piped up. She then began to look around wildly at the people and decorations around her, "The Vytal Festival is beginning today?" She questioned with wide eyes, receiving an affirmative nod from her leader. "I cannot believe that I was unaware of this event's comeuppance! How foolish of me!"

"Don't sweat it, Tan," Violet assured, "I only figured it out after overhearing Ice Queen ramble about it to her team."

"So, what should we do first?" Ross asked, looking around at the people and buildings once more, much to Tanya's annoyance.

After much debating and an argument regarding where they should head for lunch, team VRTX decided to head to the docks to perhaps meet some foreigners.

As they approached the docks, they witnessed the daring departure of a stowaway faunas.

"Wow, he's running fast." Ross commented, seeing the monkey boy sprint right past another familiar team of students.

"Yeah! You can do it buddy!" Xavier cheered, pumping his fist in support for his fellow faunas.

"He made it." Violet concluded.

"Interesting..." Tanya said before jotting some notes down into her scroll.

"Yeah it is pretty interesting."

The four members of Team VRTX were startled by a sudden new member to their conversation. They quickly turned to see four teens their age standing a few small meters away.

"Fortunately for that guy, the cops around Vale are a little slower than in Vacuo." Said the boy standing foremost.

He wore a black leather jacket that had its sleeves cut to t-shirt length, some of the grey fur fraying out. Multiple dull grey plates aligned the boy's left arm, smooth like carapace. Grey and black checkered bracelets adorned his wrists, as well as rings of the same pattern an his fingers. His legs were covered by baggy black pants with chains hanging from his belt loops. He wore black and grey skate shoes on his feet.

The boy was pale. Deathly so. His payne grey hair and crimson eyes accentuated this feature. Around the upper right corner of his forehead was a scar. His expression seemed friendly enough, but there was definitely something about the boy's eyes that threw Violet off.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't introduce myself," The boy said quickly, chuckling bashfully, "I'm Pein, leader of team PUNC." He said, pronouncing the word 'punk'. He then thrust his spindly hand out, waiting for any of them to introduce themselves.

Violet nervously met this boy named Pein, shaking his hand lightly, "I'm Violet, leader of team VRTX." She looked behind Pein at his teammates.

There was a very dark skinned boy with long bleach white hair and blood red eyes, he was taller than the other three and had a quiet and collected demeanor about him. He wore a matte black blazer that was unbuttoned, showing his bare chest beneath. Over his bare chest were two black belts that crossed like an 'x'. His legs were covered by form fitting white skinny jeans, tucked into leather boots that reached his mid-calves.

Next to him was a girl that stood at about Violet's own height. She had cherry red hair and lipstick on, fire orange eyes, as well as skin that was as pale as Pein's. Her hair was tied into a single braided tail that extended down past her waist. She wore a charcoal shaded tanktop that revealed her midriff and bolstered her breasts, several cherry red stripes running horizontally across. Around her elbows were gunmetal pads that were spiked, as well as fishnet gloves that covered her hands and forearms. She wore on her legs baggy black pants with studded belts hanging loosely from her hips, tucked into girls' skater shoes.

Directly behind Pein was a pale boy that stood between his height and the dark skinned boy's height. He had messy jet black hair, a familiarly pale complexion, vermillion eyes and a scar running across the bridge of his nose. He wore a dark leather jacket that was similar to his leader's with the exception of white inner fur and its initial color being midnight blue. Around his forearms were pale metal braces that became fingercut gloves around his hands. His jacket was left unzipped, showcasing bandages all across his torso, up to his chest. He wore pale grey shorts that run just past his knees, with heavy metal boots adorning his feet.

"You scopin' out my team there, Violet?" Pein asked, raising an eyebrow. Violet was brought out of her observation by his words, shaking her head to deny him, "Oh, no! I just noticed them is all-"

"Allow me to introduce my friends," Pein began, quickly darting back to his team. He placed his hand on the tall dark one's shoulder, shaking it roughly, "This guy's name is Umber. He's pretty quiet, but he'll speak when he thinks he needs to. He's smart too!" Umber simply nodded before Pein shifted over to the dark haired boy, "This one's Nox. He's a hyena faunas!" The boy named Nox smiled wide, flashing a set of razor sharp teeth, "He's cool, I'm sure you'll like him." Pein then moved to the red haired girl, placing both his hand on each of her shoulders, "This lovely young lady is Colette, the sole female member of team PUNC. She's also a shrimp faunas!" Colette groaned and shoved the boy's hands off her shoulders.

"I'm not a shrimp faunas, or any faunas you idiot!" She yelled, whacking him in the head.

"Ow! Coal, why'd you do that!?"

"Hey!" Nox growled, revealing a gravely voice, "He was just messin' around Coal, no need to hit'm."

Team VRTX watched the antics of each member. Each of them having their own feelings about them.

"Well," Violet began, looking down at her scroll, "I think we should get going. We'll need to be if we wanna make it to that restaurant in time." Violet turned to the rest of her team, who all nodded. "Sorry Pein, but I think we'd better head out. It was nice meeting you."

Team PUNC briefly stopped, "Oh, well I'll see you around campus then Violet." Pein called, watching VRTX walk away. Pein's goofy and energetic demeanor died away quickly, "Hehehe," He began to chuckle, "Who'd've thought we'd run into those runts when we got here?" He asked to any of his team that would reply.

"Yeah, seems like a pretty good coincidence, Pein." Colette added, "I can call you by your real name now, can't I?"

Pein sighed, "Of course you can," He replied, "though I think I'll call you shrimpy from here on." Pein smiled as he watched Colette flail around at him while Umber held her back.

"Should we report anything, captain?" Nox asked curiously, "To base, I mean."

Pein shook his head at his partner, "No, not yet. There's nothing to report here anyway, so we'll just wait until we're actually _in_ the Academy."

"Understood," Nox nodded, moving to calm Colette down.

"And to all three of you," Pein began, gaining their attention, "Don't call me 'captain' or 'sir' or any terms like that. We're undercover, so we gotta act like friends."

The three of them looked between each other, then back to their leader, "Can a call you a jackass?" Colette quipped, gaining stifled laughter from her other teammates.

"According to our mock profiles the two of us can't stand each other, so go for it." He told her with a nod. Pein then turned to Umber, "According to your file though, you swing both ways." He told him, nudging an eyebrow upward. The young man simply nodded without any complaint. "Nox!" Pein called, slapping his subordinate on the shoulder, "You are a headstrong jerk who doesn't let anyone into your heart. All the girls swarm you, but you push them away." Nox nodded eagerly with each word, "Also, we had to make up that bit about you being a hyena faunas in order to explain those chompers you got." Nox nodded understandingly after that last bit.

"Alright," Pein clapped, overlooking the fake team that called itself 'PUNC', "Let's go be super spies!"

 **So, that's the chapter!**

 **We finally got to learn more about Violet's past! Yay! She was adopted by a black guy who died trying to defend her.**

 **Also, the nickname** _ **Vyolita**_ **is a rough translation of 'Violet' from Haitian. The accent Indigo Storm has is caribbean, if you were wondering. No, Indigo is not native to Patch. Indigo's weapons are actually inspired from Gurren Lagann, as they are drills that wrap around his forearms.**

 **So, now I've revealed the named of my villains. Team PUNC! But who are they? WHAT are they? As they've been talking about humans as if they're not part of them. But most importantly: What do they want? The answers will come in time, as I have grandiose plans for this story.**

 **I also decided to give flash of Sun Wukong in there. I thought it would be nice as he's one of my favorite characters. Gunchucks man... just... gunchucks...**

 **I'm thinking of doing a prequel story revolving around team TMIS (Tempest). It takes place during the time of team STRQ's training and follows the birth of the problem that team VRTX faces now. STRQ would be included, but only on the side as it would star TMIS and RHUJ (Rouge).**

 **TMIS is Troy Snowbell, Midori Talwar, Indigo Storm and Ommund Sky. Of someone could come up with a better way to align their letters I'd be grateful.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Next up: Here kitty, kitty, kitty~**


	17. Here kitty, kitty, kitty

The ride back to Beacon wasn't nearly as emotional as the ride to Vale. Everybody was doing their own stupid thing. Be it making more calculations, gawking out the window again, or arguing with each other about the legitimacy of X-ray following the color naming rule set one hundred years ago.

"I'm telling you, it counts!" Xavier exclaimed, throwing his hands up angrily, "Ask Tanya!"

Violet placed her hand on her forehead in exasperation, "Tan', could you help us out here?"

The pigtailed girl in question lifted her head from her scroll briefly to look between the two of them, "Well, X-ray is definitely not a traditional color,"

"Ha!" Violet exclaimed, crossing her arms in an 'I told you so' fashion. Xavier's face turned down disappointedly.

"But the value of X-ray can be found to the far right of the electromagnetic spectrum of light, so therefor it counts, in a way." Tanya further explained, making Violet's jaw hang agape and Xavier's fanged grin broaden, followed by several excited fist pumps. "Xavier, I can deduce that your initials are a pun on the figure of 'X-ray', with your first initial being 'X' and your last name being 'Ray'."

"Yeah, it is. I never knew my parents, but apparently they were really smart at these sort of things." Xavier explained, a happy grin on his face.

"You mean 'knowledgeable', Canine?" Tanya tried to correct.

"Yeah, that."

Both girls' palms met their foreheads.

Hours later and team VRTX had found itself in its dorm room. Again, they all did their own quiet tasks. Tanya was doing the homework for herself _and_ her two silver haired teammates, Ross was trying and failing to understand his History work, Violet was playing a mobile game on her scroll, and Xavier was making small tweaks and such to FLLFFL.

Suddenly, Xavier picked up a sound from down the hall. The slamming of a door, the fluttering of light and effeminate footsteps quickly darting through the hallway. His nose twitched as well, picking up the definitive smell of one Blake Belladonna.

"Guys, I think I should head out." Xavier said quickly, springing to his feet and moving quickly toward the exit.

"Wait, where are you-" Violet tried to question, just before their door slammed and Xavier was gone, "-going... God, I hate it when he does that!" She pouted, crossing her arms angrily.

"Should we pursue our comrade?" Tanya asked, raising her head briefly toward her leader and partner.

Just as soon as Violet would have answered, Ross received a message on his scroll. He struggled to open the strange technology, but soon viewed the message from Xavier that read: _'need 2 b alone faunas stuf'._ Ross sighed and turned to his female counterparts, "I think we should just let him go on this one."

The other two members of VRTX came to Ross' side and got a quick view of the message.

Just then, Xavier was watching as the gloomy girl he'd been infatuated with, known as Blake Belladonna, pulled one of the ties on the bow atop her head. Slowly but surely, the bow came away; revealing two black cat ears. Before Xavier was a faunas girl, alone, scared and sad.

Just before her tears would begin to flow, Xavier spoke up.

"I'd always thought that bow looked a little bit like ears."

Blake quickly spun around, a frightened look on her face, "Y-you won't-"

"Don't worry," Xavier said without thinking, "Your secret's safe with me."

It took Blake a few short moments to remember who this boy was. He was the angry boy she'd met on the airship, as well as the boy who had surrendered when facing her in combat training. She'd be lying if she'd said she'd never thought about him, but that was a rare occurrence.

"You're that guy, aren't you?" She asked in a calm voice, "What was your name again?"

Xavier sighed, "I'm Xavier Ray, part of team VRTX." He told her, looking down a little nervously.

Blake nodded quickly, then moved to tie her bow once more. "Ray..." She said to herself, "Where have I heard that name before?" She quickly racked her brain, knowing that the name, 'Ray' had appeared before, but not being able to remember.

"You haven't!" Xavier said quickly, startling Blake a little, "I mean, I'm the only Ray." He quickly attempted to cover.

Blake nodded quietly as she finally finished tying her bow atop her head.

"What happened?" Xavier asked quietly, "Why were you running?"

Blake sighed once again, looking more closely at Xavier. To her, he seemed trustworthy, even if he wasn't the brightest bulb, as well as curious. "I lied to my team; I lied to everyone," She told him quietly, "Now I don't know if I can face them..."

"Then don't," Xavier said nonchalantly, catching Blake off guard. "Give them and yourself a little time; think about it." The wolf boy gave the cat girl a quick toothy grin, "You'll know how to deal with it in no time."

Blake couldn't help but smile as well, less enthusiastically, but definitely smiling. "That's not a bad idea, Xavier," She told him, walking past him, "I think I'll take you up on that idea."

As she began to walk away, Xavier smiled, "Mind if I join you?" He found himself asking. _Wait, what the hell!? Where'd that come from, you creep!?_ He internally screamed at himself.

Blake looked taken back by this, though her small smile returned soon, "Sure," she told him, "As of now you're the only friend I have." _This Xavier guy seems to have a good heart, plus he's the only person who knows my secret. Leaving him alone could give him the chance to spread the word._ Blake shook her head ashamedly. _No, I don't think he'd do that. I'm too suspicious of him._

Xavier walked alongside Blake, one hand scratching the back of his head, the other sending a message to his team. _'need 2 go bac 2 vale forgot somthing the restrant probly guna stay a inn or somthing 4 the nite'_ He sent to Violet. He soon received a message entailing: _'Spelling is wrong, punctuation is wrong, capitalization is wrong and for God's sake use commas! Also, it's fine if you go, just check in with me every few hours.'_ Xavier smiled at Violet's little comment, just as he followed Blake onto the transport.

The two eventually made it to Vale. As they parted the transport, Blake sighed.

"You sigh a lot." Xavier said, scratching his head a little. Blake gave Xavier an annoyed stare, before turning to the street before her.

"So, you wanna find an inn to stay at first? Or, do you wanna derp around for a little?" Xavier asked her.

"I'd appreciate it if you would call it something else, but maybe we can find something to do." The cat girl responded.

"Sooo..." Xavier lifted his eyebrow.

"Ugh... we'll _'derp around'_ as you call it." She simplified, gaining a few happy fist pumps from her male counterpart. Through his stupid antics, Blake couldn't help but smile. "So is there anything you do for fun, Xavier?"

"Besides mess with Tanya?" Xavier asked, receiving a small stifled giggle from Blake that she dare not let escape, "I like to fly."

Blake frowned curiously at Xavier's reply, "You like to _fly_? Like in a bullhead?" She questioned, receiving a 'no' from her friend.

Xavier pulled FLLFFL out of the gunmetal sheathe on his back. As it slid out, small bits of light from the shattered moon and the streetlights glinted off of the shiny metal. "No, I like flying on my sword." He elaborated, holding his sword in his right hand. "This is FLLFFL, it's a poly-steel straightedge jet katana," Xavier tried to explain to Blake, gaining a mildly confused 'huh'. Xavier sighed, "It's a sword that can fly with a purple jet on the bottom."

Blake's eyes widened, "I think I've seen something like that before, but with a few differences." She told Xavier, placing her hand on the sword's grip. "Wow, this is actually pretty comfortable," Blake added.

Xavier was taken back by her earlier comment about seeing something similar to FLLFFL, but quickly tried to shake it off, "Only Rays know how to wield these things." Xavier told her, looking up and down the shiny poly-steel blade. "It's also got a small Dust compartment that allows the sword's exhaust to be modified. It's handy sometimes, but I don't really use it."

Blake nodded as the wolf boy spoke, now running her index finger across the flat of the sword's blade. "How does it fly, though?" she asked, looking back up at Xavier with her big yellow eyes.

Xavier shrugged, "It's got three buttons; one for the throttle, one for bursts and one for quick blasts of force." He told her.

"Interesting..." Blake said with her small smile, "You better not let Ruby around it or she-" Blake suddenly stopped herself, remembering what happened earlier; why she was here. "Never mind," She mumbled, "Let's just find an inn and get the night over with."

Xavier quickly picked up on Blake's feelings, "Uhh..." He lurched forward after Blake, grabbing her hand to slow her down, "You wanna try it?" Xavier asked in a fumble to catch her attention once more.

Blake turned around with a confused look about her, "What?"

"Do you wanna try using FLLFFL?" Xavier offered quickly. _What the hell are you doing!? You_ never _let anyone use FLLFFL!_ He yelled internally at himself.

Blake sighed for the nth time that night, "Sure." she replied, "But are you okay with it?" She asked for clearance on the subject. Xavier was wincing before her, like he'd been stabbed with something.

 _No, she can't wield your sword!_ One part of him yelled, _Don't be a brat! Just let the girl swing it around for a bit._ Another part scolded, while a more immature portion of him though: _Hehe, girl playing with your sword... hehehe._

"Sure, I wouldn't've offered if I wasn't okay with it to begin with." He assured, while all of the childish and bratty thoughts in his head cried out in selfish anger.

"Fine, then." Blake said, "But first, can you let go of my hand already?"

Xavier looked down at his hand grasping hers, then quickly and awkwardly let go. "Sorry." He apologized, just before tossing his sword up and grabbing the blade, offering the handle to the disguised cat girl.

Blake nodded, moving toward the handle of the blade and taking it from the wolf boy gently. Despite how long the blade was, being four feet, the sword was surprisingly light. Probably lighted than Gambol Shroud's sword half.

"Surprised at how light it is?" Xavier asked, cocking his head knowingly. Blake simply nodded, producing a small chuckle from the wolf faunas. "That's because its crafted from poly-steel. Both the blade and the handle." He tried to elaborate, "But I digress. You probably wanna learn how to fly." Blake nodded once more, holding FLLFFL in a similar fashion to Gambol Shroud's gun-tana. Xavier sighed and made a quick 'tsk'ing sound, "You need to hold the blade end forward."

"Like this?" Blake asked, holding in before her in a style similar to that of a samurai. The sword was centered, the blade extended before her at a slight angle upwards.

"Yeah, if you wanna torch yourself with the exhaust." He snarked, gaining an annoyed look from Blake. Xavier put his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay," He murmured, "Serious Xavier is best Xavier, apparently."

"How do I hold it?" Blake questioned abruptly.

Xavier inwardly chuckled at the cat girl's forwardness. _She's really getting into this._ He thought. "Alright, are you right or left handed?" He asked her, opting the girl to raise her right hand. "Righty, then." Xavier moved to Blake's side quickly, "You'll wanna hold the nozzle, or pommel end off to your right."

Blake did as she was instructed, holding the blade off to the right of her waist.

"Good," Xavier congratulated with a smile, "Now, the button at the top is the throttle, so I don't think you-"

Fwoosh!

FLLFFL went screaming out of Blake's grip, soaring on a trail of blue flame, stopping once it stabbed into the side of a building.

"-should push it..." Xavier finished, both he and Blake looking at the blade stabbed one hundred feet away from them.

The two stood there beside each other, staring at the sword awkwardly. Soon enough, Xavier began to laugh, much to his counterpart's dismay.

"Hey, I tried to hold on!" Blake growled at Xavier, who was struggling to stop laughing.

"J-just the way t-that you- pffft!" He burst into another spell of uncontrolled laughter, bending over and holding his stomach, "-an-and the look on your- bwahaha!"

Blake tried to stay angry at the wolf boy's insensitive laughter, but as she replayed the events in her head, she couldn't help but smile, even giggle a little.

Xavier quit laughing when he heard Blake's laughter. It was quiet, gentle and above all: adorable. "Your laugh sounds cute," Xavier told her shamelessly, a wide grin about his stupid face.

Blake quickly pucked in her laughter, pursing her lips as to not expose any more of herself.

Xavier made his way over to his sword, still lodged into the red brick wall of some kind of bar. His hands gripped firmly around the handle, he grunted shortly as he yanked FLLFFL from its place in the bricks.

Blake watched the wolf boy with a layer of wonder. _He's definitely not the smartest wolf in the pack, but I can see past that._ She thought as he made his way back to her, sword in hand. _Maybe he's worth spending more time with. I mean, he's definitely got a good heart._ Xavier then held his sword out for her once more, an ernest nod encouraging her to take it. "Thanks." She said simply.

Blake reached out, grabbing the handle of the sword once more, her hand touching Xavier's briefly before he let go. "So..." Xavier wondered, scratching the back of his head, "Want some more 'hands on' training?" He asked bashfully, his pale blue eyes darting between Blake and the floor. Blake blushed lightly, before nodding with a small smile.

Xavier moved behind Blake, his hands around the sword's grip, as well as the girl's hands. Blake's back was lightly pressing against Xavier's frontside, bringing a light shade of red to his cheeks.

"Okay," Xavier began, moving Blake's and his own hands into the position from before, "You should brace yourself; channel your aura." Xavier instructed, gaining an affirmative nod from his counterpart, "The force could hurt if you don't. Like your teeth are being pulled out slowly." He explained, the girl's eyes widening nervously. Around Blake hummed a black outline; her aura, growing slowly but surely. Xavier channeled his own soon thereafter, a pale bluish silver glow surrounding him. Their auras touched, danced like two rivaling flames, then melded together and grew.

"Good," Xavier told her, gaining yet another nod from the girl. "Now, I want you to spread your feet away from each other," He told her, using his own feet to nudge Blake's feet into a sturdy stance, which he shadowed just on the outside. "You ready?" Xavier asked Blake quietly, leaning in closer.

Blake was surprised at the close contact, causing her to blush, but she nodded, "I'm ready, Xavier."

A wide grin spread across Xavier's face, "Hold on, then!" He warned, a level of excitement riddling his voice.

Both their grips tightened and Xavier pressed on the throttle.

The two of them blast off the floor below them, leaving a blotch of charred cement and a trail of blue exhaust behind them. As they soared through the sky, the color left Blake's face. She lost all composure as she let out a cheerfully frightened scream.

Xavier was cheering like a maniac as he flew around with Blake. Her grip began to loosen and he moved to hold her waist, hugging her to him as she let go. With one hand gripping FLLFFL, the other wrapped around the cat faunas, Xavier flew.

Blake held tightly to Xavier's waist, tears in her eyes from the speed they jetted across the night sky. Behind them, an elaborate trail of corkscrews, loops, spirals and other figures were formed from the remnant exhaust from the sword they flew on.

Blake looked up at Xavier's face, his icy blue eyes wide with excitement, his face covered in a stupid fanged grin, his unkempt silver hair whipping wildly in the starry night sky. He was having the time of his life and Blake was entranced by it.

Xavier briefly looked down at the girl in his arms. _There's a girl in my arms._ He acknowledged happily as he watched her. Blake's expression was filled with excitement, her bright yellow eyes wide with excitement, her mouth in a bright smile, her skin pale from the exhilarating speed, her long black hair fluttering around her. _My god, she's beautiful..._ He told himself. Blake's arms hugged tightly around Xavier's waist as they flew around the night sky.

After an hour or so of flying, the two eventually touched down on solid ground. They landed on a bridge that was close to the dock, overviewing the majority of the city.

Xavier's feet hit the ground and he stood up just fine. Blake on the other hand was wobbling with each step, her face bleach white from the exhilarating ride. Xavier chuckled to himself as he stopped her from falling forward.

"Don't worry," He told her, "It took me a while to get used to it." The wolf boy's arm was wrapped around Blake's chest from behind, holding her while she tried to catch her breath. Soon enough, the color returned to the girl's face, as well as a shade of red from the sudden close contact.

Blake squirmed out of Xavier's hold and attempted to straighten herself out, as every article of clothing on her was ruffled or crooked in some way or another. "Sorry." She quickly apologized as she fixed her bow atop her head.

"Can you walk on your own?" Xavier asked Blake, gaining yet another nod. Xavier rolled his eyes, "I take it that you like to nod and sigh a lot." He muttered, gaining another annoyed glare. Instinctively, Xavier threw up his hands defensively once more.

After short walk and debate about the 'proper' way to wield a katana, Blake and Xavier began to tire.

"Think you wanna hit an inn or something now?" Xavier asked, he feet beginning to drag with each step.

Blake sighed, as usual, then turned to Xavier, "Sure thing." She replied, "Do you know a place?" Xavier simply shrugged and shook his head. "Well, then we'll just have to wander around 'til we find a place."

Xavier nodded, then the hunt for an inn began.

It took about forty minutes to find a small inn located near the docks. The manager was reluctant to let the two teens have a room, but they assured him that they were just looking for a place to sleep. They ended up renting a room with a set of bunk beds near a large window.

"I call top bunk!" Xavier cried immaturely as he literally jumped from the floor to the bunk above him. Blake rolled her eyes at his childish antics and slid under the covers of the lower bed.

Before Xavier would have passed out for the night, Blake's voice cut through the dark silence.

"Xavier, thanks for teaching me to fly."

Xavier's mouth curled into a happy grin, "No problem, we can fly again any time you want."

"Good night."

"G'night."

With that, the two student's eyes shut and their day was over.

 **Dear God. That took SOOO many rewrites! Seriously, every draft before this was** _ **so**_ **awkward or corny that I'd scrapped it six times before I had my friend read it over and tell me what to add and what to remove.**

 **If you haven't noticed, this is a Catscan devoted chapter.**

 **Sorry if you're a bumblebee fan, but I** _ **thoroughly**_ **believe that Blake is straight. As well as Yang.**

 **I wanted to prove that Xavier and Blake** _ **do**_ **indeed have chemistry. I'm not a Black Sun hater, in fact it's one of my favorite canon ships.**

 **I hope I didn't butcher the way Blake acts. I'd actually watched the Blake-heavy episodes of the show several times before writing, so yeah...**

 **I've also noticed a lack of reviews. I LOVE seeing what people have to say about the story (Even if it's people bitching about the exclamation points).**

 **Read and Review!**

 **Artisan Out!**

 **Next up: Everything went numb.**


	18. Everything Went Numb

"Where the heck did that furball get off to!?" Violet demanded of no one in particular. She was getting irritated quickly at Xavier's absence. _I told him to check in with me every few hours, but I've gotten nothing!_ She fumed, stomping her way to the lift pads to get to Vale. Behind her trailed Ross and Tanya, both equally as concerned as their leader on this matter.

"He said he was gonna stay at an inn, but he never told us where." Ross stated, gaining annoyed glares from the two girls.

"Well thank you, captain obvious." Violet grumbled, "Got any other news for us?"

"You're wasting time with your rhetoric, Violet." Tanya said, pulling her eyes away from her scroll briefly.

"Hey."

The three students quickly span around to meet a familiar duo.

"Pein, Nox, what are you doing here?" Violet asked, her teammates taking a few steps away from the pair.

"We saw what happened last night." Pein replied with a smile, "Your scruffy friend split, heading straight for Vale with one _Blake Belladonna._ " He told them, adding emphasis on the second half.

"He left with Blake?" Violet asked, a mischievous smirk growing about her from the ammunition she'd been supplied with.

"Yeah, right ofter she took that bow off and revealed that she's a faunas." Nox added with a shrug.

The five of them stood there quietly for a few moments...

"What!?"

The three members of VRTX were slapped across the face with this sudden reveal.

"Looks like the cat's out'a the bag now, eh Nox?" Pein joked, nudging his partner's shoulder and smiling.

"No," Nox groaned, his hand smacking dead in the center of his forehead, "Just... No."

"Wait, did you know where in Vale they were headed?" Violet questioned, purposefully ignoring Pein's awful pun. _Seriously, that was Peinful._ She thought. _Crap, now he's got me doing it!_

"They said something about an inn near the docks." Pein revealed, "Something about Blake wanting some space from her team."

"Thanks Pein!" Violet said, before grabbing Ross' and Tanya's wrists and running off toward the lift pad.

As they ran off, the two members of team PUNC watched.

"How'd you know about the part with the docks?" Nox asked his leader.

Pein grinned and turned to his subordinate, "I sent Colette to spy on the pair. We're keeping tabs on all these kids, remember?" Pein told him, gaining a nod from his partner, "Besides, we _need_ them at the docks. We've got a loose end to tie up."

Nox's eyes widened, "The informant?" he asked, gaining an affirmative nod.

"While he's dealing with the brats, we'll screw him up." Pein began to explain, "Coal and Umber are gonna jot down a few more notes up here while we take care of business down there."

"But Pein, wouldn't we do better if we attacked him all together?" Nox questioned.

"Yeah," Pein replied, "But no one's seen those two yet. We've already been spotted by those brats." He elaborated, Nox nodding along understandingly, "We show any more of what we are and they'll start to suspect."

Nox placed his hand under his chin, "What if the informant kills one of them?" He asked.

"Then that'll be one less runt to deal with later on."

"What if the informant lets something slip?"

"Then we let it slip."

"Huh?" Nox questioned, confusedly.

"Remember what we are," Pein assured, "What we're here for." Pein sighed as he watched the transport carrying the three members of VRTX off to Vale fly away. "The more fear and distrust, the better. They're like wooden planks, buddy, the more pressure you apply the faster they'll break." He told his colleague with a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "They get even easier to break when there's been termites eating at'm."

"I got it, Pein." Nox said, "But what happens when they try to squash the termites?"

"Then we apply more pressure."

It was at this moment, on the other side of the city, that Blake and Xavier were having breakfast at their inn. In Blake's hands was a teacup, nearly empty. Xavier on the other hand had been scarfing down bacon faster than he could think, much to Blake's discomfort.

"Shwr," Xavier began in an attempt to say 'so', "Hwr yh dwrn?" He asked before swallowing and repeating himself, "How are you doing?" Xavier's plate was cleared of food, not a crumb to be seen.

Blake looked up briefly, letting out a long and stress filled sigh. "Xavier," She spoke, "Do you know of the White Fang?" Her eyes peered down at her drink reflectively, cast down with fear of his coming response.

"Yeah." Xavier responded with an equally discomforted demeanor, "I heard of'm." He readjusted himself in his seat to sit straighter as he prepared for the ensuing conversation. "I know- _knew_ someone who was part of all that."

"How do you feel about them?" Blake asked calmly.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel." He answered, gaining a curious stare from the cat girl across from him. "They've done so much crap, but they've also improved things for us." He elaborated, "And I can't believe that all their members are heartless terrorists, as much as I try." Xavier's fists clenched slightly, "They wanna help," His voice cracked, "I know they do. But I've seen the crap they do firsthand, seen the people they hurt, seen the _numbers_ of people killed by just _three_ of them."

Blake shifted on the other side of the table, watching as the wolf boy before her struggled, "So have I, Xavier." She said softly, "That's why I left."

Xavier's eyes shot up to meet Blake's and the two just sat there in silence.

"I'm sorry," Blake whispered, both she and Xavier in identically shameful positions.

"Don't be." Xavier told the girl, surprising her, "It's not your fault that my brother left me."

"But it is my fault all those workers are dead!" Blake nearly shouted, gaining the attention of the other tenants at other tables. The girl looked around, a startled look about her.

Xavier sighed before standing up and grabbing Blake by the arm. "We gotta go, Blake." He warned, gaining a nod from the girl.

The two grabbed their gear from the woman working the desk up front, as they couldn't keep their weapons inside the inn. They then headed out, Blake trailing close behind her friend.

Soon enough, the two were back on the street. They were walking around with no particular destination in mind.

"So, Blake." Xavier began, looking over his shoulder to speak to the girl as they walked, "Tell me why you're telling me all this stuff about you and the Fang now."

Blake slowed down, a bit of red dashing her pale cheeks as she sighed, "You're the only person I can trust right now." She said bluntly, her eyes darting to the ground shamefully, "Plus, you decided not to tell anyone when you found out who I really am." She added, wiggling her cat ears beneath her bow to remind Xavier of what she was: a faunas.

Xavier rolled his eyes."Why do you hide, anyway?" He asked her as the two of them walked.

"Many reasons." The girl replied with a grumble.

"Care to go over a few with me?" Xavier pressed on.

Blake sighed, shaking her head. "I don't wanna be judged by other 'normal' people." She told him, "That enough for you?"

"Really?" Xavier grunted back with a condescending tone, "I may be a bit slow, but I'm not a complete idiot." The wolf boy stopped before Blake abruptly, taking hold of her arms and stopping her as well, "It's 'cause you don't want any faunas recognizing you either, ain't it?"

Blake was startled by the sudden strong contact from her male counterpart. She looked away from Xavier ashamedly, before lightly nodding. "I don't want anyone to know who I am. If they do they-"

"Shut up."

Blake's eyes darted back up at Xavier confusedly. "W-what?"

"I said, 'shut up'." Xavier repeated, "Come on, I hate repeating myself." Xavier let out a sigh, staring upward. _Great, now she's got me doin' it too._ He thought woefully before continuing. "You are _not_ a member of the White Fang, Blake, get that through that pretty little head of yours." The wolf boy told Blake, "You're a Huntress, a young woman who's gonna change the world with her weapons. It doesn't matter what we were, what matters is what we do _now,_ you got that?"

Xavier let go of Blake and took a few steps back.

Blake's face was red. She didn't know whether to feel angry at his abruptness and lack of sensitivity, happy that there was finally someone who knew her secret past and was _completely_ unfazedby the revelation, or embarrassed from the sudden and close contact with an attractive boy. "What..." Blake began to say, struggling to find words to accommodate any of those feelings, "What the Hell is wrong with you!?"

Xavier quirked an eyebrow, "Not a reaction I was expecting."

Blake took a few steps back. "You find out I'm a faunas and I've been hiding it from everyone, so you give me a night out. You teach me to use your sword for _no apparent reason._ You learn I'm ex-Fang and you shrug it off like nothing." Blake continued to list off the other odd behaviors Xavier had been demonstrating, all the while the boy in question was leaning back and listening to her with his hands behind his head. "...I just don't get any of it! What do you have to gain from any of this!? From me!?" Blake concluded, her face displaying anger and confusion.

Xavier leaned his head back and took a deep breath. "It's nothing." He said with a half smile, "I'm just a 'good samaritan' as they say." Xavier brought his gaze back to Blake once more, "I'm also a sucker for pretty girls. Makes it even worse for me when they're crying like you were." His half smile spread into a cheesy grin that lit up his face, so big that it made him squint.

Blake's eyes widened and a small shade of red tinted her cheeks. "Your leader is right; you _are_ an idiot."

"Great," Xavier replied, "Now you're acting like your teammate Weiss."

"Don't compare me to her!"

"Hey, calm down! I'm just having a little fun."

"At my expense?"

"At everyone's expense. It's just how I roll."

The students' bickering was cut short by a loud beeping. The scrolls in both their pockets were sounding off, signifying a call coming for each of them. Blake pulled hers out, showing a call coming from one Ruby Rose. Hesitantly, Blake ignored the call.

Xavier flipped his scroll open without thought, neglecting to even check the contact. "Sup homes, this is the X-Dawg-"

"Shut up Scruffy! Tell us where you are!" The loud and rage filled voice of Violet Storm demanded, cutting Xavier's stupid rambling short.

"Well, I was gonna tell you anyways Vi', but now I don't think I will!" Xavier replied in a mock pouting voice. "You meanie!" He added. As Violet let loose a chain of threats and insults, Xavier slid his scroll closed.

Blake gave her male counterpart a curious stare before shaking her head as if to say: " _I don't even want to know."_

"Vi' being Vi'." was all Xavier said in response with a shrug.

Blake nodded.

Elsewhere in Vale, the leader of team VRTX was fuming over the lack of cooperation from a certain wolf faunas.

"Grrr! I'm gonna _kill_ that blockhead!" Violet growled, thrusting her fist _hard_ into the brick wall to her left. "He _always_ does this; Running off and disobeying me. He's an idiot!" she complained to her two teammates that were just hoping that she would calm down.

"Violet, I don't think it's that big a deal." Ross said in an attempt to calm her down. "He's probably just messing around, trying to have fun. It's not like he's off getting into trouble."

"You don't know that, Ross." Tanya said to the red head, "That canine has a tendency to get himself into the most inconvenient of situations at times."

"Translate?"

"Xavier's a trouble maker." Violet simplified, rounding the corner of a building and slamming into one Ruby Rose.

Bonk, tumble, slump.

"Oww!" The girl grumbled, rubbing her head.

"Hey, you should really watch where your going sometimes Ruby." Said Ross as both team leaders got to their feet.

Behind Ruby were her other two team members and another wide eyed girl who the three had never met. "Ross!" cheered Ruby after seeing her friend again. "and... Violet?" she asked, cocking her head as she looked over the leader of team VRTX. "It is you!" The pale little girl said with a gasp, "I can't believe it! You've gotten so _big._ " She mused, walking around her old friend and inspecting her. "Where have you been?" She demanded, "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Uh, Ruby, I'd love to let you continue your little reunion, but we're a little busy." The girl in white standing behind her said.

"Ah, what were we doing again?"

"We're looking for Blake, you dunce!" Weiss cried, making Ruby flinch and jump into Violet's arms.

"Good to see you haven't changed, Ruby." Violet said with a chuckle. Violet then raised an eyebrow, "Wait, you're looking for Blake?" She questioned.

Ruby nodded and sprung out of Violet's hold. "She ran away last night and we think she might've come down to the city."

"Well, we're coincidentally searching for an absent member of our own." Tanya told her.

"What?" Ruby asked with a confused look about her.

"Xavier ran off last night as well. Another exchange student from Vacuo told us that he and Blake ran off together." Ross explained, gaining nods from the three members of team RWBY.

"Perhaps collaborating with one another may prove fruitful in our efforts at locating our missing comrades." Tanya suggested.

"What?" Both Yang and Ruby asked in unison this time.

"She means we should work together." Weiss translated.

"Oooh." The two girls and Ross replied with unintelligent nods.

"Perhaps the docks may prove a good place to look first." The girl in the back suggested, surprising the three girls of team RWBY.

"Gah! Penny, where did you come from!?" Ruby demanded.

"You mean she wasn't with you the whole time?" Ross asked them.

The other two members of team RWBY shook their heads and waved their hands vigorously, trying to discourage Ruby from some decision. "Yeah... Penny's with us." Ruby told them.

Both Yang and Weiss dropped to the floor.

" _Salutations_ strangers! My name is Penny." The odd girl with vibrant orange hair and semiformal cyberpunk clothing mused. "Any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine."

"Great, Penny, great." Yang told their companion, "but could you keep it down there, P? We're trying to determine where they might've run off."

"Perhaps the docks would be a good place to look. I've heard that cats do enjoy fish."

"What are you talking about, Penny?" Weiss asked with her hands on her hips.

"Blake? She's a cat faunas. Have you not seen her cat ears?" Penny cocked her head and smiled as she explained.

"Cat ears?" Ruby questioned, "Blake doesn't have cat ears! She wears a big black... bow..."

It was at this moment that everyone realized what Blake really was.

"She does really like tuna." Ruby whispered.

Far away from the two teams was an abandoned warehouse. Or so it may seem. Within it stood three teens in full black bodysuits, covered by bone white plates. Over their faces were different masks that resembled different Grimm.

Before them was the tied up and beat down form of one Roman Torchwick, his minion Neo dead on the floor before him. "Neo..." He winced, staring at her broken lifeless form. His eyes darted up as one of the teens sauntered over to him.

The teen was obviously a boy, wearing a bone white deathstalker mask that was damaged around the right eye. Out of the hole in his mask fluttered payne grey bangs and a crimson eye shone at Roman's green ones.

"First of all," Began the deathstalker boy, "I would like to thank you for informing us on that whole business with Cinder and her two pets. Getting rid of them saved us a _huge_ headache down the line."

Roman simply growled at the boy, causing him to raise his eyebrow curiously.

"Secondly, I'd like to extend an invitation to you."

Roman's eyebrows raised and his glare became a sneer. "What could you offer that I could want, kid?" Roman asked with barred teeth. "You killed Neo, what more could happen?"

"Mr. Torchwick, I'd like to offer you a place in our little club of people that are gonna live through all of this." The deathstalker boy told Roman in a voice like that of a businessman.

"What are you saying?"

"Where do you wanna be, Roman, at the end of the world?"

Roman's eyes widened when he heard this, "You know how I roll, don't you?" He chuckled. His chuckling soon turned into a hacking cough, his lungs contracting in pain.

"You wanna do what you always do: survive."

"You hit the nail on the head there, didn't you."

The boy in the mask smiled, his expression only escaping through the hole blown over the eye. "We can help you survive, Roman." he told him. It was then that the deathstalker boy moved aside, showing off a machine. This machine had two chambers that looked disturbingly like glass coffins, the one on the right was empty while the one on the left had the body of a Grimm slumped inside it. The Grimm was a Griffon, the flying horse Grimm.

Roman's eyes widened when he saw the contraption. "What the hell is that thing?" He asked calmly, looking between the deathstalker boy and the machine before him.

"This _'thing'_ , is our answer to this world's problems." the boy said as a matter of fact. "It's gonna make you pretty and pale like us; all Grimmy and such."

"What's it gonna do to me?"

"I already told you, you idiot."

"Is it gonna hurt?" Roman asked mockingly, like a child would ask before getting a shot.

"It will definitely be an experience." the boy replied. "Are you up for it?"

 **So, how do we feel about the new chapter? I don't have much to say about it.**

 **i picked out some voice actors for each member of VRTX**

 **Violet: Cherami Leigh (Voice of Asuna from SAO)**

 **Ross: Haley Joel Osment (Voice of Sora from Kingdom Hearts)**

 **Tanya: Ashley Johnson (Voice of Ellie form The Last Of Us)**

 **Xavier: Dante Basco (Voice of Zuko from Avatar, The Last Airbender)**

 **Good day.**


	19. Roman Candles and Northern Lights

Boom!

Panic spread all across the commercial district of Vale as two warehouses were blown apart. From the ashes of the warehouses emerged a group of masked individuals, bearing the red insignia of the White Fang on their backs. In front of them was another individual, bearing the familiar traits of Roman Torchwick.

Roman gripped his hand around his cane, breathing in deeply as he felt a power he'd never felt before. He'd been missing this power, though he'd never had it to begin with. His hair was such a dark red that it almost looked like dried blood, his skin now deathly pale, his eyes a cruel red.

"Oooh..." Roman cooed as he looked over his shoulder at the White Fang that were given to him. He knew that he could probably take them all on and kill them, but he also knew that he needed them for now. "I gotta say, Perry." He said to one of the terrorists as he slapped his shoulder, "I feel _great!"_ He then proceeded to shove off the smaller subordinate.

He looked around at the large trucks being packed full of Dust, both powdered and crystalized. Roman squinted his eyes as he remembered his orders from the kid in the Grimm mask.

 _"Congratulations, Roman, you're not one of them anymore. You're stronger now, you're one of us."_

 _The shirtless form of Roman Torchwick was busy retching on floor after he'd fallen out of his glass coffin he was forced into. The experience of whatever had been done to him was blurry, but he knew it was painful. Soon enough, the pain that flowed through his veins morphed into a sort of power. Like he was filled with a surge of constant hatred induced adrenaline, his aura going into overdrive just before it became uncomfortably brittle._

 _"Wha-" Roman stuttered, getting to his feet and feeling like every movement he made was overshot, "What the hell did you do to me!?" He demanded. He looked down at his skin and noticed the pallor, nearly white as snow. The hair that dangled before his eye was darkened like it was charred._

 _"We saved you, Roman. Now you're gonna live through the end of the world." Replied the boy in the mask who moved to remove the bone white armor from his face. After the damaged deathstalker mask was gone, Roman caught view of a boy, no older than seventeen. His messy payne grey hair was flattened by his mask, his crimson eyes now wide and enthusiastic. "Now you don't have to worry about dying like everyone else."_

 _"W-what are you talking about?" Roman asked as he felt the overwhelming power surge throughout him, no sign of it dying any time soon._

 _"Roman, you're not human anymore. You're one of us." The boy elaborated, "You're gonna help us build the perfect world."_

 _Roman tried to say something, anything. But every time he would open his mouth, he'd only stutter or cough._

 _"Roman, I'd like you to take another look at your little friend here." Said the boy, moving out of the way to show Roman his dead subordinate, Neo. She lay on the floor, dead, unmoving. "Tell me what you feel when you see her."_

 _As Roman Torchwick looked over his dead partner, he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. He could remember the feelings he once had for her, training her like an apprentice, like a child of his own almost. But now, all Roman saw was a body; a piece of spoiled meat..._

 _"I don't feel anything..."_

 _"I know you don't." Replied the boy. "You won't anymore, because you're above them. These humans are nothing to us, Roman. Nothing but a dead link in the constant evolution that we must continue." The boy stepped up closer to Roman, his two partners following closely behind him. One bore the mask of a boarbatusk, the other donned the visage of a creep. "As much as you may think you want to fight it, you want them all to die just as much as us. It's instinct now, Roman."_

 _The more Roman contemplated the boy's words, the more he realized their truth. Everyone he could remember from his past was now covered in a thick sheet of hatred. He hated them, all of them. He wanted them to die, he wanted to kill them. He wanted their light to go out. He wanted to break them. He wanted to end those filthy humans._

 _"What do you want me to do, kid?" Roman asked with a smile that broadened across his mouth, showcasing a new set of sharper fangs._

 _The boy smiled back. It was a devious smile that showed cunning and hatred._

 _"We got a few thorns in our side that we need to pull out."_

Roman stood before the trucks as they were loaded up. He knew that a robbery this blatant and noisy would attract his targets. As he looked around at his troops, he knew that they didn't stand a chance. He was surrounded by weaklings. It didn't matter if they were humans or faunas, they were weaker than he. He decided quickly that if his targets didn't kill his men, he would do it himself. Just the thought of seeing these peoples' blood made Roman feel giddy.

Roman looked up at the bright blue sky and the passing clouds and couldn't help but growl. _Stupid bright colors..._ He thought as he watched the plumes of smoke from the destroyed warehouse blot out the vibrance of the day.

Those same plumes of smoke were seen by Xavier Ray and Blake Belladonna, who were moving through the crowds of panicking people to get closer to the crisis.

"Blake, slow down!" Xavier cried, moving closely behind the girl. Xavier and Blake eventually escaped the wave of people when they reached the end of the street. "What are you doing?" He asked, taking a brief moment to catch his breath.

"That smoke, it's coming from the old Dust storage warehouses! If we can get there in time we can catch the _real_ culprit that's been stealing all this Dust." She called over her shoulder as she ran as fast as she could.

What Blake didn't expect was the sudden sound of FLLFFL powering up, and Xavier's arm to quickly wrap around her waist as he burst off the floor, taking her with him.

Blake quickly gripped around Xavier as the two flew quickly towards the site where the explosion had taken place. She didn't have the time to be entranced like the night before, as she and Xavier were both confused on what to do once they got there.

"Xavier! Do you have a plan!?" Blake asked loudly, as she couldn't hear herself at the speed they flew. "No!" Xavier replied at the same volume, "Violet's always the one with the plan!" Before either of them could come up with anything, they were already dangerously close to their destination.

"Jump!" Xavier ordered, dropping the cat girl from his arms.

Both Blake and Xavier hit the floor simultaneously, a cloud of blue exhaust surrounding them. Before them were four large trucks that were probably loaded with all different kinds of Dust, as well as nearly two dozen soldiers from the White Fang.

"No..." Was all Blake could get out as she shook her head sadly.

Xavier switched his blade into an underhanded manner, light glinting off of the reflective blade. He held the sword at eye level, crouching down and concentrating. "Blake, maybe you should try to appeal to their Fangy side, y'know, since you were part of them once." Xavier suggested, "Hurry, before things get violent."

Blake nodded affirmatively before pulling quickly at a strand of her bow, removing it. Her cat ears were revealed as she approached the terrorists with determination. "Brothers of the White Fang!" Blake began, standing tall and speaking with authority, just as she had done when first meeting Xavier. "You are above petty robberies such as this! Where is your honor!?"

It was then that many of the members that were ready to engage seemed to tense up and get nervous, some even looked a bit guilty.

"Throw down your arms and leave while you still have some honor left!" Blake commanded. Just in case things got messy, Gambol Shroud was holstered to Blake's back. She watched the emotional confusion among her fellow faunas and couldn't help but feel she made a small impact.

"Honor this, little kitty." A voice cut through the silence, as well as a flare that nearly hit Blake if not for Xavier once again bursting forward and taking her in one arm.

Roman Torchwick gritted his teeth as he launched several more flares at the pair of students. "Alright, you animals! Take'm down!" He ordered, thrusting his free hand forward in a fist.

With that, the White Fang moved forward.

Xavier let go of Blake quickly, who span out of his grip and delivered a brutal downward kick to the head of one terrorist as she landed. Hastily, Blake dismounted Gambol Shroud and unsheathed her weapon, switching it quickly to pistol form while she held her bladed sheathe in an underhand. Blake disappeared quickly as one Fang member struck her copy, being quickly put down by a slash to the leg and a quick and brutal jab to the head with the butt of her pistol. She proceeded to attack more enemies as they came to her, using decisive shots and slashes.

Xavier was dealing with Torchwick, striking hard and fast with jabs and movements assisted by his jet. Roman blocked every hit thrown his way, even managing to get a swing or two in and strike his opponent. The battle between the two was obviously being controlled by the man with the cane, who was merely toying with the wolf boy as the two of them went back and forth. "Give it up, scruffy," Taunted Torchwick as he pressed his cane down hard on the boy's blade, forced him downward. "I'm a new man! A survivor!" He growled, leaning into the boy's face with a mad grin, "You're just a stupid human that will eventually die off anyway, so give it up now!"

Xavier grunted as he strained to keep the man off of him. "I'm- grrk!" He tried to reply, feeling the pressure on his arms increase with every second he tried to hold on.

"What was that, scruffy?" Roman taunted, leaning in mockingly, "Does the wittle doggy think that he's 'people'?"

Before Xavier could come back with anything, a loud blast was heard throughout the lot.

"Get!"

Bang!

"Away!"

Bang!

"From!"

Bang

"My!"

Bang!

"Friends!"

Standing atop one of the buildings surrounding the lot were Ruby Rose and Violet Storm, as well as another girl with auburn hair who was wearing some sort of techno-victorian getup. In Ruby's hands was a gigantic red and black sniper rifle, firing powerful rounds that cracked the ground and sent Fang members flying.

One of these high impact dust rounds struck Roman hard in the chest, sending him off of Xavier and against the wall. The wolf boy used this opportunity to burst away from Torchwick to land somewhere near Blake.

"Ruby!" Blake cried, reaching up and removing her attention from the battle momentarily. Xavier barely got there in time to block a grunt's downward slash with a naginata-rifle that would have got Blake.

"Fight now! Reunion later!" Xavier barked over his shoulder, gaining an affirmative nod from Blake.

On top of the building and next to Ruby was Violet, watching the whole battle play out. Many of the White Fang that were here had already been beat, but there was still more of them, and the threat of Roman Torchwick.

"What do you make of all this, Rubes?" Violet asked, her hair being blown back with every shot from her friend's Crescent Rose.

"The guys in uniforms look like push overs," The younger girl replied, "But that guy in the hat... I've seen and fought him before!"

Bang, bang, bang!

"Seen him before?" Violet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Ruby answered, reloading her rifle quickly and efficiently, "He's kinda the reason I got into Beacon two years early." Her new magazine was locked and loaded, so she began firing once more. "He looks different now, it's kinda weirding me out."

Penny moved in between the two girls and stared at Roman, who was simply pacing back and forth as he watched his henchmen throw themselves at the enemy. Her eyes were squinting as she took in every detail of the man and processed it.

"He's not matching the data for 'Roman Torchwick', his signature is looking quite odd." She said simply as she analyzed him.

"Penny, what are you talking about?" Ruby asked before unleashing another round. "Why are you talking in techno babble?"

Penny shook her head quickly, "Er, I'm just going off what I've read about him in articles and other examples. His hair is orange, right?" Penny asked, just before a small hiccup escape her. She continued on in an attempt to divert the subject, "But now it is like dried blood."

"His hair color doesn't matter right now!" Violet said with a nod, "I'm going down there to get in on this. Nobody hurts that scruffy idiot but me!"

With that, Violet leapt off the roof of the warehouse, flipping forward and unfolding her Spiral Songs. Quickly, she used her reverse semblance and used the spinning to slow her fall.

"I will assist my friend, Violet." Said Penny with a determined smile and a nod.

"But Penny, it's dangerous down there!" Ruby warned, firing a round into a White Fang members chest.

"I've told you before, Ruby," Penny assured with a broad and confident smile, "I'm combat ready!"

From there, the small pouch on Penny's back opened up, releasing ten thin, angular, glowing swords that seemed to float around her. They hovered dangerously around her as she converted the bottom ones into a form of pistol before jumping off of the roof to follow behind Violet. As she jumped, she flashed Ruby one more smile.

Boom!

Both Violet and Penny slammed into the floor next to each other. Penny wasted no time in charging forward, moving through the White Fang members with her blades to get directly to Roman. Violet was more concerned with her teammate, who was surrounded on all sides by White Fang members.

"You scruffy little jerk!" Violet yelled, catching the attention of Xavier and all those surrounding. She then proceeded to blast round after round into the enemy before her while pressing forward to get to her teammate. Soon enough, every assailant around Xavier was either flung back from the shots or writhing in pain on the floor. "I thought I told you to stay in contact!" She told him, now walking up to him with her guard completely down. A White Fang member attempted to get the jump on her but was shot down by a high pressure round from Ruby's Crescent Rose. "Jeez, I leave you alone for a few hours and you're already caught in an explosive battle with the White Fang! Idiot!"

Xavier groaned, also letting his guard down. "Can we do this later?" He asked exasperatedly, "We have a criminal to catch and some Fang to put down." Without even blinking, he spun around and drove FLLFFL across a terrorist's face. Violet sighed, "When we're done here..." She muttered the rest incoherently.

Penny and Blake were both attacking Roman Torchwick simultaneously, delivering elegant slashes and twirling strikes that were all expertly blocked and dodged by the man. As Roman fought, he happily hummed _"Singing in the Rain"_ to himself.

Before delivering a hard kick to Penny's chest, he flashed a wicked smile full of teeth like that of a predator. Spinning around from there, Roman could focus more effort on taking down his other opponent, who now fought alone. Blow after blow onto Blake's Gambol Shroud rattled her hands, and Torchwick was getting better and better at predicting where she was and where her copy was. After firing an explosive round into Blake's chest and sending her flying back, Roman stood alone.

"Blake!" Xavier shouted worriedly, jetting over to her on the floor. He began to help her up, before she pushed his hands away and shook her head. "I'll pick myself up." She muttered through gritted teeth, before forcing herself to her wobbly feet.

All five of the students stopped their actions and stared at Roman. He was obviously toying with each of them. Even if they all attacked him at once, he'd be able to come out on top.

He smiled wickedly at the teens as fire from the destroyed factory danced around the whole lot, reflecting madly in his bright red eyes.

"I think it's my turn now." He said to all of them. With that, the back of his shirt tore open, revealing two ten foot raven wings with mangled feathers and a reflective film. They glinted in the falling daylight, the sun now beginning to set on the battle.

Before any of them could react, Roman was bursting through the air, firing round after round of explosive flares that torched and blew apart the ground beneath the students. All the while, Roman sang aloud. "I'm singing in the rain~! Just singin' in the rain~!"

The students screamed painfully as their auras were pushed to their limits, only Ruby who stood away from the lot on top of a building fought back. She fired round after round at the now airborne Roman Torchwick, missing every shot as he shifted in the air.

"What a glorious feelin'~" He sang as he fired off a flare directly at Ruby, "I'm happy again~, I'm laughin' at the clouds~!" Ruby could barely backflip out of the way before the shot blew away her previous position.

Roman quickly slammed down on the charred area, smiling at Ruby Rose with animalistic bloodlust, "I've a smile on my face~," He continued to sing, his wings now retreating as he sprinted forward at the girl. "With happy refrain~!"

Ruby quickly shifted her sniper around her and into its scythe form, barely catching Roman's can as it slammed hard into the six foot handle of her weapon. She winced and grunted as she pushed with all her might against Roman's strength, dwarfing hers. "Just singin~" He sang happily to her as he pressed down with little effort, "Singin' in the rain!"

Just as he'd finished his song and was ready to finish the little caped girl before him, a large cyan ray collided with Roman's chest. He flew back and away from Ruby, being pushed back by the force of the beam slamming into him, looking for a moment to notice the new player on the field.

He was a young man, not a student, but a man. Probably in his early twenties. His sky blue hair waved wildly, being pushed back by the force and energy from the large beam cannon in his hands. Over his eyes were a set of shades with cyan lenses, completely reflective and showing none of his eyes themselves. From the waist up he wore a black skintight shirt with short sleeves, blue suspenders crossing over his chest and back in an _'X'._ His legs donned armored pants that were blue on the cloth areas, while matte gunmetal on the metallic plates fastened along it. His boots were made of a the same metal as the plates all over his pants, moving easily with his feet. From his forearms to the tips of his fingers he wore skintight gloves of the same material as his boots and leg armor.

The silver and blue beam cannon in his hands was bigger than he was, being 6'2, and looked ridiculously heavy. It was thick, but sleek, looking like a fighter jet in the form of a cannon. The vents and seams on the sides of the cannon glowed with blue brilliance, exhausting little sparks of Dust as the cyan beam burst from the nozzle at the end.

"Get out'a here!" Cried the new arrival, directing his shouts toward the girl in black and red. Ruby was about to protest before the man yelled "Now!" Ruby nodded quickly before moving toward her downed friends in the burning lot below.

The beam bushing Roman back ceased shortly after the girl's escape, resulting in a pissed off criminal and a man with his teeth gritted.

"Let me guess, you're a Huntsman?" Roman asked, casually walking toward the man before him. The man nodded, revealing his position, "Yeah, I am." He said, "And _you're_ a terrorist." He said threateningly.

The two stared each other down momentarily before Roman sprinted forward with a sudden incredible speed.

The Huntsman growled and quickly pulled a lever on his cannon, removing the foot long nozzle of the gun and an extra foot within. Just as quickly, the man slammed the husk of the cannon on his back. After letting go, the silver and blue cannon shell transformed and wrapped itself around the Huntsman's back and chest, becoming a layer of hard armor, guarding his torso.

The two foot rod in his hand contained a Dust crystal and several other mechanisms, but most importantly was a switch. The Huntsman flicked the switch upward, producing a six foot cyan beam of light from the nozzle. It glowed brilliantly in the dim light of the dying sunset, daring not to be snuffed out.

Roman instantly closed the distance between the two of them, and the new arrival thrust out his hand. The two then disappeared instantly in a flash of white and blue.

Down below, Ruby Rose was moving through the mess of rubble and the flame that was once a backlot to a Dust Storage Warehouse. She'd taken little to no damage in the fight, due to her position on that roof, so she used the time that mysterious man gave her to look for the others.

"Blake!" She cried, drawing out the syllable as she stumbled across the cracked asphalt. She looked around frantically, trying to find any sign of life. Then, she heard coughing. Feminine coughing. Ruby rushed over to the source of the coughing, taking out Crescent Rose and using it to hack away the rubble surrounding her friend.

Blake was free, but heavily injured. He face was covered in soot and her arms and face were cut all over. Her aura was visibly trying to patch her up, but it wouldn't be enough. "Ruby..." She wheezed, her arm being taken by the smaller girl and thrown over her shoulder. From there, the two half limed, half dragged around the vicinity, looking for the others.

"Xavier!" Blake tried to call out, but she could barely put out the sound. "Penny!" Ruby sounded, calling to her odd friend.

Violet was on the other side of the destroyed lot, her eyes wide open in shock.

 _Fire, fire surrounded Violet as she cried and cried for her father Indigo. The buildings around her were none more than ruins and she lay on her knees in a pile of soot and debris. Howling filled the night, as well as growling and snarling. Monsters wanted to eat her and she knew there was no escape..._

"Violet!"

The voice was like a wake up call to her, forcing her out of her dark memory. Before her soot covered face was a boy's gloved hand, and beyond that stood Ross Mayweather. His face was full of concern, his eyes with small bits of tears at the ends, and he trembled slightly.

"Ross?" Violet wheezed as she looked at the boy in front of her. Her mouth moved up into a melancholy grin as tears began to roll down both their cheeks. "How's it going?" She creaked.

Ross wasted no time in helping her up and over his shoulder.

"Weiss and Yang are looking for Ruby and Blake," He told her with determination, "Tanya and I are finding you, Penny and Xavier."

"Any luck with the other two?" Violet asked, "I mean Xav' and Penny."

Ross shook his head, "No, your the first one we've found."

"Why haven't you tried calling them?" Violet asked as they stepped around a large piece of rubble with rebar sticking out of it dangerously.

"We have, but we think your scrolls may be damaged, or outright destroyed." Ross answered, "Besides, I barely know how to use these weird Vale gadget-things."

They continued to walk with Violet's arm over Ross' shoulder, limping and wincing with each hard step.

The air was surprisingly quiet, save the crackling of fire and occasional shifting of rubble. This quiet was interrupted though, by the sudden muffled song "Gone and Faded" from the scroll in Ross' pocket.

"I think that could be Tanya." Ross said to Violet as he set her down gently. He then proceed to quickly take out his scroll and flip it open, revealing the emotionless face of Tanya.

Ross accepted the call, holding it to his ear and asking "What's up? Did you find anyone?" He spoke very loudly into the scroll, hearing Tanya grunt on the other side from his yelling.

"Negatory, but Weiss did manage to locate our friend Xavier." She informed, "He was discovered in an unconscious state under a large mass of rubble, he appears to be heavily injured."

"Roger tha-" Ross was cut off by the interruption of Yang, "We found Blake and Ruby!" She exclaimed excitedly, making both Tanya and Ross wince. "They're together, that leaves one more."

"I got Violet here," Ross informed, looking at his injured leader.

"Good, we'll call a bullhead then to pick us up and take us back to Beacon." The voice of Weiss interjected.

"How are all of you getting on one line?" Ross asked incredulously. He could have sword he heard all of their hands hit their foreheads, even Violet who did so before him. "Never mind." He said sheepishly, "We're at these coordinates..." Ross then turned to Violet and whispered, "How do I check coordinates on this thing?" Violet simply shrugged, gaining a sigh from Ross, "Forget it, just call a bullhead, they'll see us."

From the outside of the lot, looking in, was the trashed form of Penny.

The flesh covering left half of her entire body was charred down to the dented metal and frayed wires beneath. He left arm was missing and her face was burned down to the endoskeleton. Her eyes though, they looked unharmed, glowing bright green and reflecting sadness and fear. A light in her chest blinked on and off, and her eyes looked down at it sadly.

"Father is going to be so upset with me." Penny whimpered to herself, unable to amass organic tears, so she dispersed small falls of water down her damaged facial structure.

She would have to hide and wait for a private vehicle to pick her up, then see the horrified and disappointed looks about her rescuers faces. Then, she would return home to see those exact same expressions on her father's face. It was going to be painful...

Soon enough, a bullhead appeared. It hovered over the broken lot and shined its light down on the teens how looked up at it with their eyes wide.

Each of the students had their own reactions.

Violet was just happy to finally go home...

 **Aight, my friends and followers. I know this is kinda sudden, but I decided that I'm gonna be breaking this story into Volumes, like the actual show does. This will be the Final Chapter of this Volume, as I'd actually like to have a completed story under my belt.**

 **I'm going to have a few mini-stories that will take place between this Volume and the next. Yes, these stories will be canon in my "Grimm-verse" as I've decided to call this AU.**

 **One idea is called** _ **"Violet Dragon".**_ **It's gonna be about Violet and Ross. We'll see a bit more about their childhood, as well as a possible developing relationship.**

 **I also have** _ **"O Brother, Where Art Thou"**_ **which will focus on Tanya, Lilac, and Forest. It'll expand on the romance between Forest and Lilac, and it'll begin the struggle between Tanya and Forest.**

 **The last of my ideas is** _ **"Alpha and Omega"**_ **, which is all about our favorite scruffy little bastard, Xavier! It'll focus on his conflict with Irvine, but it'll have some expansion on the romance between he and Blake.**

 **If you like any of these ideas, be sure to tell me! I'm sorry to end this volume so soon, but I really wanted to do these individual pieces. Be sure to tell me what you thought of this story!**

 **Artisan Out!**


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